ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T - Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT)

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ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T

The following review compares the worldwide digital broadcasting systems ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T.

1.
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6

Digital broadcasting systems for terrestrial television
Africa
Asia
Australia and Oceania
Europe
North America
South America

1. Digital broadcasting systems for terrestrial television

For terrestrial broadcasting of digital TV programs four competing systems are used.

In Japan the ISDB-T (Terrestrial Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) system is standardized by ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses).
SBTVD-T (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital Terrestre) is the digital terrestrial television system in Brazil. SBTVD-T is based on ISDB-T.

China (including Hong Kong and Macao) chose DMB-T/H (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting-Terrestrial/Handheld) as DTV standard.

A system which uses an 8 VSB modulation (8 Level Vestigial Side Band) for terrestrial broadcasting, standardized by ATSC, has been realized in the USA.

The DVB Project has been realized in Europe by EBU (European Broadcasting Union), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and the CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization). For terrestrial broadcasting the DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) standard is used.

Brief overview
System	Explanation
DVB-T	Broadcasting via DVB-T is actively in use.
DVB-T adopted	Countries which have adopted the DVB-T system.
DVB-T trial broadcasts	Those countries undertake trials with DVB-T.
RRC06	The according countries participate in the Regional Radiocommunications Conference 2006 of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). It can be assumed that all countries taking part will ultimately use the DVB-T system when they move from analog to digital.
ATSC	Broadcasting via the ATSC system is actively in use.
ATSC adopted	Countries which have adopted the ATSC system.
ISDB-T	Broadcasting via ISDB-T is actively in use.
ISDB-T adopted	Countries which have adopted the ISDB-T system.
SBTVD-T	Broadcasting via SBTVD-T is actively in use.
SBTVD-T adopted	Countries which have adopted the SBTVD-T system.
DMB-T	Broadcasting via DMB-T is actively in use.
DMB-T and DMB-H announced	No formal adoption of a DTT standard. Commercial DVB-T services.
Commercial DVB-T services	No formal adoption of a DTT standard.
	Undecided countries.

The following overview of the various systems is additionally subdivided into continents. Please report hints for possible mistakes or actual changes.

Date format = YYYY/MM/DD_[X]
[T] = Date of starting trials
[A] = Date of a formal adoption of a DTT standard
[D] = Digital Switchover (DSO)
ASO = Analog Switch-Off

Terrestrial transmission systems of digital television


1.1 Africa
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Algeria	RRC06	2008_D	2014
Angola	RRC06
Benin
Botswana	RRC06
Burkina Faso	RRC06
Burundi	RRC06
Cameroon	RRC06
Cape Verde	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Central African Republic	RRC06
Chad	RRC06
Comoros (incl. Mayotte)	RRC06
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	RRC06
Congo, Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)	RRC06
Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	RRC06
Djibouti	RRC06
Egypt	RRC06
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea	RRC06
Ethiopia	RRC06
Gabon	RRC06
Gambia	RRC06
Ghana	RRC06
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya	RRC06	2015_D
Lesotho	RRC06
Liberia
Libya	RRC06
Madagascar	RRC06
Malawi	RRC06
Mali	RRC06
Mauritania
Mauritius	DVB-T	2001_T 1999_A 2005/09/30_D	2011
Morocco	DVB-T	2007/01_T 2007/02_D	2015
Mozambique	RRC06
Namibia	DVB-T	2005/02/18_D	2005
Niger
Nigeria	RRC06		2015
Réunion
Rwanda	RRC06
São Tomé and Príncipe
Sahara, Democratic Arab Republic (Western Sahara)
Saint Helena (Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
Senegal	RRC06
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia	RRC06
South Africa	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2000/02_T 2008/11/01_D	2011/11/01
Sudan	RRC06
Swaziland	RRC06
Tanzania	RRC06
Tanzania - Zanzibar	RRC06
Togo	RRC06
Tunisia	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2001_T 2009_D
Uganda
Zambia	RRC06
Zimbabwe	RRC06


1.2 Asia
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Afghanistan
Bahrain	RRC06
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei (Negara Brunei Darussalam)	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2006/01_T 2005/08/29_A 2008/08_D
Cambodia	DVB-T adopted	2007/05_A
China, People's Republic of (incl. Tibet)	DMB-T and DMB-H announced	2005_T 2006/08/18_A 2008_D	2015-2018
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
Hong Kong	DMB-T	2007/12/31_D	2012
India	DVB-T adopted	2000_T 1999/07/08_A
Indonesia (incl. Irian Jaya)	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007/05_A
Iran	DVB-T adopted	2001_A
Iraq
Japan	ISDB-T	2003/12_D	2011/07/24
Jordan	RRC06
Korea, North
Korea, South	ATSC	1997/11/21_A 2001_D	2012/12/31
Kuwait	RRC06
Kyrgyztan	RRC06
Laos	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007/05_A
Lebanon	RRC06
Macao (Macau)	DMB-T and DMB-H announced
Malaysia	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2006/09_T 2005/08/29_A	2015
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar	DVB-T adopted	2005/08/29_A
Nepal
Oman	RRC06
Pakistan
Philippines	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007/01_T 2006/11_A	2015/12/31
Qatar	RRC06
Saudi Arabia	DVB-T	2004_T 2006/06/11_D
Singapore	DVB-T	2000/12_T 1999_A
Socotra	RRC06
Sri Lanka	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2008/01/23_T
Syria	RRC06
Taiwan	DVB-T	2001_T 2001_A 2004/06_D	2010
Tajikistan
Thailand	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007/05_A
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates, UAE (incl. the Emirates Abu Dhabi and Dubai)	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007_T
Uzbekistan	RRC06
Vietnam	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2001_T 2007/05_A
Yemen	RRC06


1.3 Australia and Oceania
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Australia	DVB-T	1998_T 2001_D	2013
Cook Islands (incl. Tokelau)
Easter Island
Fiji Islands
French Polynesia (incl. Tahiti)
Guam
Kiribati (Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, Line Islands)
Marshall Islands
Micronesia (Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands)
Nauru
New Caledonia
New Zealand	DVB-T	2008/04/02_D	2012
Niue
Norfolk Island
Northern Mariana Islands
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn
Samoa
Samoa, American
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Wallis and Futuna Islands


1.4 Europe
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Albania	Commercial DVB-T services, DVB-T trial broadcasts	2003/07_PayTV 2007_T
Andorra	DVB-T	2005/08_D	2007/09/25
Armenia	RRC06
Austria	DVB-T	2004_T 2001_A 2006/10/26_D	2010
Azerbaijan	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2004/09_T
Azores	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Belarus	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2004/12/28_T 2010_D
Belgium	DVB-T	2002_T 2002_A 2003/07_D	2011/11
Bosnia and Herzegovina	DVB-T adopted
Bulgaria	DVB-T adopted		2012
Canary Islands	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Croatia	DVB-T	2005/06_T 2007_D	2010
Cyprus	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Czech Republic	DVB-T	2000_T 2005/10/21_D	2011/11/11
Denmark	DVB-T	1999_T 2000/12_A 2006/03/31_D	2009/10/31
Estonia	DVB-T	2004/05/07_T 2006/12/15_D	2010/06
Faroe Islands	DVB-T	2002_T 2002/12_D	2002/12
Finland	DVB-T	1999_T 2001/08_D	2007/09/01
France	DVB-T	2005/01/17_T 2000/08_A 2005/03/31_D	2009-2011/11/20
Georgia	RRC06
Germany	DVB-T	2002_A 2002/11_D	2009
Greece	DVB-T	2006/01/16_D	2012
Hungary	DVB-T trial broadcasts	1999_T 2004_A	2012/12/31
Iceland	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Ireland, Republic of	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2006_T 2001/03_A 2008_D	2012
Israel	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2004_T 2008/08_D
Italy	DVB-T	1998_T 2001_A 2003/12_D	2012
Kazakhstan	RRC06
Latvia	DVB-T adopted	2002_T 2000_A	2011
Liechtenstein	RRC06
Lithuania	DVB-T	2003_T 2006/06_D	2012
Luxembourg	DVB-T	2002/07/01_T 2006/04_D	2006
Macedonia	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2004/12/14_T 2008_D
Madeira	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Malta	DVB-T	2004_T 2005/07/01_D	2010
Moldova (Republic of Moldova)	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2003/09_T
Monaco	DVB-T
Montenegro	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2008_T	2012
Netherlands (Holland)	DVB-T	1998_T 1999_A 2003/04_D	2006/12/11
Norway	DVB-T	2000/06_T 2002_A 2007/09/01_D	2008/03/04-2009
Poland	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2001/11_T 2003_A 2008/06_D	2014
Portugal	DVB-T trial broadcasts	1998_T 2000_A 2008_D	2012
Romania	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2005/12_T 2000_A	2012
Russia	DVB-T	2007_T 2003/12_A 2008_D	2015
San Marino	RRC06
Serbia	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2005/05/10_T
Slovakia	DVB-T trial broadcasts	1999_T 2001_A 2008_D	2012
Slovenia	DVB-T	2001/09_T 2007_D	2010
Spain	DVB-T	1997_T 1998/10_A 2000/05_D	2010/04
Sweden	DVB-T	1999/04/01_T 1997/05_A 1999/09_D	2007/10/15
Switzerland	DVB-T	2000_T 2003_D	2008/02/25
Turkey	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2006/02/03_T 2004/09_A 2008_D
Ukraine	DVB-T	2002_T 2006/01_A 2006/06_D	2014-2015
United Kingdom (Great Britain [England, Scotland, Wales] and Northern Ireland)	DVB-T	1996_T 1996/07_A 1998/11_D	2007-2012/12/31


1.5 North America
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda Islands	Commercial DVB-T services	2007/07_PayTV
British Virgin Islands
Canada	ATSC	1997/11/08_A
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Greenland	DVB-T
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras	ATSC	2007/01/16_A 2007_D	2017-2022
Jamaica
Martinique
Mexico	ATSC	2004/07/02_A 2006_D	2021
Montserrat
Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten [Saint-Martin])
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico	ATSC	1996/12/24_A
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
United States of America, USA (incl. Alaska, Hawaiian Islands, Midway Islands and Wake Island)	ATSC	1996/12/24_A	2009/02/17
Virgin Islands of the United States


1.6 South America
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Argentina	Commercial DVB-T services	2006/07_PayTV
Bolivia
Brazil	SBTVD-T	2006/06/29_A 2007/12/02_D	2016
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Falkland Islands
Guiana, French
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru	DVB-T trial broadcasts, ATSC and ISDB-T trial broadcasts	2007/10_T, 2007/12/03_T
Suriname
Uruguay	Commercial DVB-T services, DVB-T adopted	2007/03_PayTV 2007/08/27_A	2010-2012
Venezuela	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007/06_T