The European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee has delivered its opinion on the upcoming Decision about the use of UHF frequencies in the EU, which are crucial for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) distribution.

The Committee’s opinion, adopted on 21 June, suggests improvements to the European Commission’s original regulatory proposal, in particular by setting the deadline for broadcasters to migrate out of the 700 MHz band to 2022 rather than 2020, and by offering stronger long-term guarantees for the use of DTT in the sub-700 MHz frequencies.

Deputy Head of European Affairs Wouter Gekiere said: “The Culture and Education committee has delivered an opinion which recognizes the importance of DTT for the cultural and creative industries.

“DTT is indispensable to ensure one-to-many transmission of TV programmers for free. There are no other technologies currently out there capable of replicating its advantages, both for viewers and broadcasters. With roughly half of Europe’s population relying on DTT to receive TV programmes, it directly connects Europeans in their living rooms to European films, documentaries and series as well as news and sports.”

The Culture Committee opinion will feed into the final report of the European Parliament, which is scheduled for adoption in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee in October this year. The EBU urges the Industry Committee to take up the improvements suggested by the Culture Committee.

On the same day as the adoption of the Culture Committee Opinion, the Wider Spectrum Group, which brings together organizations representing Europe’s audiovisual industry, trade union and viewers’ interests including the EBU, took part in a breakfast meeting with MEPs Stefano Maullu and Patrizia Toia. The latter will lead discussions on the UHF Decision in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.

During the event, the Wider Spectrum Group reiterated its call for a more balanced UHF spectrum strategy for Europe which allows digital terrestrial TV to continue developing and innovating to the benefit of Europe’s audiences and creative industry.