Digital television in Sao Tome and Principe launches next year

The project to switch the signal of Sao Tome and Principe’s public television channel (TVS) from analogue to digital will be finished in June 2015 and will cost over USD7 million, the Director of TVS said Wednesday in Sao Tome.
Frederico Umbelina noted that the project had the technical support of the General Regulatory Authority (Ager), the telecommunications regulator in the archipelago and funding from the World Bank and Turkey.
The director of the public television channel said the project, developed in partnership with Spanish consultants and the University of Minho in Portugal, would require restoration of the physical and technical facilities of the archipelago’s only television station.
He said that one of the objectives was to increase the number of domestic TV channels and create an international channel for Sao Tome nationals living abroad, especially in Portugal, England, France, Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the USA.
According to Umbelina the project, which will be completed by June 2015, will also include the reformulation of the TV stations operational model and large investments in both equipment and technical training for staff.
TVS, or Televisão São-Tomense, has a single channel and broadcasts for about nine hours per day.  MDT/Macauhub