ATSC, DMB-T/H, DVB-T/DVB-T2 and ISDB-T

DTV Status compares the worldwide digital broadcasting systems ATSC, DMB-T/H, DVB-T/DVB-T2 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 (ISDB-Tb) 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.
ATSC trial broadcasts	Those countries undertake trials with ATSC.
ISDB-T	Broadcasting via ISDB-T is actively in use.
ISDB-T adopted	Countries which have adopted the ISDB-T system.
ISDB-T trial broadcasts	Those countries undertake trials with ISDB-T.
SBTVD-T	Broadcasting via SBTVD-T is actively in use.
SBTVD-T adopted	Countries which have adopted the SBTVD-T system.
DMB-T/H	Broadcasting via DMB-T/H is actively in use.
DMB-T/H adopted	Countries which have adopted the DMB-T/H system.
DMB-T/H trial broadcasts	Those countries undertake trials with DMB-T/H.
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	DVB-T	2009/07_D	2014
Angola	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Benin	DVB-T adopted
Botswana	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A 2013_D
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	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Congo, Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)	RRC06
Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	RRC06
Djibouti	RRC06
Egypt	DVB-T adopted
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea	RRC06
Ethiopia	RRC06
Gabon	RRC06
Gambia	RRC06
Ghana	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2008_A 2010_D	2013
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya	DVB-T	2009/12/09_D	2015
Lesotho	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Liberia	RRC06
Libya	DVB-T adopted
Madagascar	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Malawi	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Mali	RRC06
Mauritania	RRC06
Mauritius	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2001_T 1999_A 2005/09/30_D	2011
Morocco	DVB-T	2007/01_T 2007/02_D	2015
Mozambique	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A 2013_D
Namibia	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2005/02/18_D	2005
Niger	RRC06
Nigeria	DVB-T	2010_D	2015
Réunion
Rwanda	RRC06
São Tomé and Príncipe
Sahara, Democratic Arab Republic (Western Sahara)
Saint Helena (Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
Senegal	RRC06
Seychelles	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Sierra Leone
Somalia	RRC06
South Africa	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2000/02_T 2009/03_D	2013/12
Sudan	RRC06
Swaziland	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Tanzania (incl. Zanzibar)	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A
Togo	RRC06
Tunisia	DVB-T	2001_T 2009_D	2015
Uganda	DVB-T	2009_T 2010_D	2012/12
Zambia	DVB-T2	2010/11/25_A 2011/07/01_D
Zimbabwe	DVB-T2 adopted	2010/11/25_A 2013_D


1.2 Asia
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Afghanistan
Bahrain	DVB-T	2009_D
Bangladesh	DVB-T adopted		2015
Bhutan
Brunei (Negara Brunei Darussalam)	DVB-T	2006/01_T 2005/08/29_A 2008/08_D	2014
Cambodia	DVB-T adopted	2007/05_A	2015
China, People's Republic of (incl. Tibet)	DMB-T/H	2005_T 2006/08/18_A 2008_D	2015-2018
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
Hong Kong	DMB-T/H	2006/08/18_A 2007/12/31_D	2012
India	DVB-T adopted	2000_T 1999/07/08_A
Indonesia (incl. Irian Jaya)	DVB-T adopted	2007/05_A	2015
Iran	DVB-T adopted	2006_T 2001_A 2009_D
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 adopted	2007/05_A	2015
Lebanon	RRC06
Macao (Macau)	DMB-T/H adopted	2006/08/18_A
Malaysia	DVB-T	2006/09_T 2005/08/29_A 2010_D	2015
Maldives	ISDB-T adopted	2011/10/19_A
Mongolia	DVB-T2 adopted	2011/11/22_A	2014/06/30
Myanmar	DVB-T	2005/08/29_A 2005_D
Nepal
Oman	RRC06
Pakistan
Palestinian territories
Philippines	ISDB-T adopted	2007/01_T 2010/06/10_A	2015/12/31
Qatar	RRC06
Saudi Arabia	DVB-T	2004_T 2006/06/11_D
Singapore	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2000/12_T 1999_A 2002_D	2017
Sri Lanka	DVB-T adopted DVB-T2 adopted	2008/01/23_T 2009/08/27_A 2011_D	2017
Syria	RRC06
Taiwan	DVB-T	2001_T 2001_A 2004/06_D	2010
Tajikistan
Thailand	DVB-T adopted DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2007/05_A	2015
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates, UAE (incl. the Emirates Abu Dhabi and Dubai)	DVB-T trial broadcasts	2007_T
Uzbekistan	RRC06
Vietnam	DVB-T	2001_T 2007/05_A	2015
Yemen (incl. Socotra)	RRC06


1.3 Australia and Oceania
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Australia	DVB-T	1998_T 2001_D	2013/12
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	2012/09-2013/12/01
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	DVB-T	2007_T 2004/07_D
Andorra	DVB-T	2005/08_D	2007/09/25
Armenia	RRC06		2015
Austria	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2004_T 2001_A 2006/10/26_D	2007-2011/06/06
Azerbaijan	DVB-T	2004/09_T 2009_D	2015
Belarus	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2004/12/28_T 2005/07_D	2015
Belgium	DVB-T	2002_T 2002_A 2003/07_D	2011/11
Bosnia and Herzegovina	DVB-T adopted
Bulgaria	DVB-T adopted		2012
Croatia	DVB-T	2005/06_T 2007_D	2010/10/05
Cyprus	DVB-T trial broadcasts		2011
Czech Republic	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2000_T 2005/10/21_D	2011/11/11
Denmark	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	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 (incl. Åland Islands)	DVB-T	1999_T 2001/08_D	2007/09/01
France	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2005/01/17_T 2000/08_A 2005/03/31_D	2009/11-2011/11/30
Georgia	RRC06
Germany	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2002_A 2002/11_D	2008/11/25
Greece	DVB-T	2006/01/16_T 2008/11/01_D	2012
Hungary	DVB-T	1999_T 2004_A 2008/12/01_D	2011/12/31
Iceland	DVB-T trial broadcasts
Ireland, Republic of	DVB-T	2006_T 2001/03_A 2010/10/29_D	2012
Israel	DVB-T	2004_T 2009/08/02_D	2011/03/30
Italy	DVB-T	1998_T 2001_A 2003/12_D	2010-2012
Kazakhstan	RRC06 DVB-T2 trial broadcasts
Latvia	DVB-T	2002_T 2000_A 2009/08_D	2010/04/01-2010/06/01
Liechtenstein	RRC06
Lithuania	DVB-T	2003_T 2006/06_D	2012/10
Luxembourg	DVB-T	2002/07/01_T 2006/04_D	2006
Macedonia	DVB-T	2004/12/14_T 2009/09_D	2012
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-T2 adopted	2008_T 2011/03/09_A 2012/07/01_D	2012/12/31
Netherlands (Holland)	DVB-T	1998_T 1999_A 2003/04_D	2006/12/11
Norway (incl. Svalbard and Jan Mayen)	DVB-T	2000/06_T 2002_A 2007/09/01_D	2008/03/04-2009
Poland	DVB-T	2001/11_T 2003_A 2010/09/30_D	2011/06/30-2013/07/31
Portugal (incl. Azores and Madeira)	DVB-T	1998_T 2000_A 2009/04/29_D	2012/01/12-2012/04/26
Romania	DVB-T adopted	2005/12_T 2000_A	2013
Russia	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2005_T 2003/12_A 2008_D	2015
San Marino	RRC06
Serbia	DVB-T2 adopted	2005/05/10_T 2011/03_A	2012/04/04
Slovakia	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	1999_T 2001_A 2010/01_D	2011/03/09-2011/08
Slovenia	DVB-T	2001/09_T 2007_D	2010/12/01
Spain (incl. Canary Islands)	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	1997_T 1998/10_A 2000/05_D	2010/04/03
Sweden	DVB-T DVB-T2	1999/04/01_T 1997/05_A 1999/09_D	2007/10/15
Switzerland	DVB-T DVB-T2 trial broadcasts	2000_T 2003_D	2008/02/25
Turkey	DVB-T adopted	2006/02/03_T 2004/09_A 2009_D
Ukraine	DVB-T DVB-T2 adopted	2002_T 2006/01_A 2006/06_D	2014-2015
United Kingdom (Great Britain [England, Scotland, Wales] and Northern Ireland) with Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey) and Isle of Man	DVB-T DVB-T2	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	SBTVD-T adopted	2010_A
Bermuda Islands	DVB-T	2007/07_D
British Virgin Islands
Canada	ATSC	1997/11/08_A 2003_D	2011
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/04/29_A 2011_D	2018
Cuba
Curaçao	DVB-T	2007/11_D
Dominica
Dominican Republic	ATSC adopted	2009_T 2010/08/10_A	2015
El Salvador	ATSC	2009/04/22_A 2010/02_D	2012-2014
Greenland	DVB-T
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala	ATSC	2006_D
Haiti
Honduras	ATSC	2007/01/16_A 2007_D	2017-2022
Jamaica
Martinique
Mexico	ATSC	2004/07/02_A 2006_D	2015
Montserrat
Nicaragua	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/08/17_A
Panama	DVB-T	2009/05/12_A 2009/12/10_D
Puerto Rico	ATSC	1996/12/24_A
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten [Saint-Martin]	DVB-T	2007/11_D
Trinidad and Tobago	DVB-T	2009/10_D
Turks and Caicos Islands
United States of America, USA (incl. Alaska, Hawaiian Islands, Midway Islands and Wake Island)	ATSC	1996/12/24_A 2000_D	2009/02/17-2009/06/12
Virgin Islands of the United States


1.6 South America
Countries/Territories	System status	T - A - D	ASO
Argentina	SBTVD-T adopted	2009/08/28_A	2019
Bolivia	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/07/05_A 2012_D	2024
Brazil	SBTVD-T	2006/06/29_A 2007/12/02_D	2016
Chile	SBTVD-T adopted	2009/09/14_A 2010_D	2017
Colombia	DVB-T	2008/08/28_A 2010/01/29_D	2017-2020
Ecuador	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/03/26_A
Falkland Islands
Guiana, French
Guyana
Paraguay	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/06_A 2012/05_D
Peru	SBTVD-T	2007/10_T 2009/04/23_A 2010/03/30_D	2023
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Suriname
Uruguay	SBTVD-T adopted	2010/12/27_A 2011-2012_D	2014-2015
Venezuela	SBTVD-T adopted	2007/06_T 2009/10/06_A	2018