homyak:
08/18/2015 at 21:54
In Tver, businessmen have figured out how to make money on free television
11:44 08/18/15 Ekaterina Karpova
In Tver, a certain commercial company offers to connect digital television.
Referring to the federal program and hiding behind someone else’s logo, the company asks for 3.5 thousand rubles for its services.
At the same time, even a schoolchild can cope with connecting the set-top box.
Leaflets offering to connect to digital television have again appeared in the mailboxes of Tver residents.
They are like two peas in a pod to those that appeared in Tver at the end of June.
The paper features the same logo and the same references to federal legislation.
The only difference is the connection time.
This time you can use the service only from July 27 to August 27.
– The deadlines that this organization specifies for the transfer, they apparently came up with for themselves. In fact, now television, public channels are broadcast in two formats - analog and digital. Analogue broadcast will be carried out until 2021 by presidential decree, or even longer. Therefore, there is no rush to switch,” says Artem Davydenko, chief engineer of the RTRS branch of the Tver RTPC.
This is not the first time that the company has changed the time frame during which the connection will be carried out.
Only the period of time remains unchanged - residents are given only a month to have time to switch from analogue to digital television.
For its services, a company calling itself a city service department asks for 3.5 thousand rubles.
The price includes a digital decoder, antenna and broadcast installation and testing services.
Please note that the list of services offered by the company does not require any special skills.
Connecting a set-top box is comparable to connecting a VCR to a TV.
Doing it yourself is not only easy, but also inexpensive.
In the store, the average cost of a set-top box is about 1,200 rubles.
– Connecting to digital terrestrial broadcasting is quite simple, so residents can go to the store and buy the same television receiver or a TV with a DVB-T2 decoder, or they can use the services of this company. But why overpay if you can do everything yourself? – explains Artem Davydenko.
In its leaflets, the company uses the logo of Central Broadcasting Television, and the ad does not even contain the address where it can be found.
Moreover, it is unknown whether the company bears any responsibility in the event of equipment failure.
Only one thing is clear: the Tver Radio and Television Transmission Center will not be able to help with repairs.
– People can see the RTRS logo – where will they go? To them or to us? If they contact us for warranty repairs, we will not be able to help them in any way, since we have nothing to do with selling equipment in this way,” says Artem Davydenko, chief engineer of the RTRS branch of the Tver RTPC.
Answer
Vladimir Lyubarsky
For a week now, the Tver region has been living without analogue television: since December 3, it was the first in the country to switch to digital television. However, not all residents of the region have yet been able to appreciate the new picture quality on their television screens. Regional authorities promise to quickly resolve the problems that have arisen. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed Governor Igor Rudena to personally ensure that the transition to digital takes place without unnecessary financial burden on people and “no one is left without broadcasting.” Experts note the importance of the digital reform that has begun in the country and warn about the risks if it is carried out illiterately. Details are in the RK review.
Problems with digital
With the launch of digital broadcasting, citizens who use old televisions will need to buy special digital set-top boxes to receive the new signal.
After that, they will receive sets of 20 high-quality TV channels for free. The first multiplex includes: Channel One, “Russia 1”, “Match TV”, NTV, “Petersburg - Channel 5”, “Culture”, “Russia 24”, “Carousel”, OTR, “TV Center”. In the second - REN TV, Spas, STS, Domashny, Friday, Zvezda, Mir, TNT, Muz-TV, writes RIA Novosti.
As the media notes, according to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, the technical ability to receive digital broadcasting in Russia today is 98.5%, and only 1.5% of the country’s residents are outside the digital signal coverage area.
The Tver region was the first to switch to digital as part of the experiment. Analogue broadcasting in the region was turned off on December 3. On December 4, a meeting between Tver Governor Igor Rudeni and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place. The head of state asked how the transition to digital television is going in the region.
Rudenya said that the government of the subject has provided compensation for residents with low incomes, a hotline and volunteers who should help citizens install new equipment. Putin instructed the head of the region to personally monitor the situation. “The first thing is to avoid putting unnecessary burden on people. And secondly, so that no one is left without broadcasting,” the Kremlin press service quotes the president.
However, judging by media reports, not all residents of the Tver region have yet been able to appreciate the new quality of the picture on their television screens. Owners of old TVs are already facing big problems.
The regional authorities stated that the cost of a digital set-top box would not exceed 1,000 rubles, but residents of the Tver region did not see such prices in stores. Retail outlets began to sharply increase the cost of equipment. There are almost no cheap consoles left on the shelves that would be affordable for residents of the region. “On average, purchasing a set-top box along with an antenna will cost 2,000 rubles,” writes Tverigrad.
Moreover, taking advantage of the boom in TV set-top boxes, sellers of specialized stores are trying to sell off old set-top boxes for the DVB-T format, which will not receive a digital signal. Price increases and speculation by store employees were noticed not only in small retail outlets, but also in chain markets.
Evgeniy Revenko, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, expressed his concern about what happened in the Tver region. He said that if the facts of a sharp increase in prices for digital equipment are confirmed, local operators will be severely punished.
“I have not been to the Tver region and I do not know at what level the work with the population took place. But, perhaps, local authorities need to increase awareness about where arrogant speculators can profit from people, and where you can buy set-top boxes for receiving a digital signal at a normal, adequate price,” the Parliamentary Newspaper quotes him as saying.
Inspections of cases of sharp increase in prices for TV set-top boxes should be organized by the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation in the following areas: control over the availability of necessary equipment in retail chains and control over prices for set-top boxes and this equipment.
Meanwhile, Tverskie Vedomosti writes that the regional OFAS continues to be inactive: there is no information either about the raids that are being carried out, or about the punishment of those who artificially inflate prices for TV set-top boxes. The publication notes that the instructions of Dmitry Medvedev, who ordered individual structures to monitor the pricing policy of companies selling special equipment, were ignored.
Innovation not from the governor
Many people are trying to avoid the scandal in the Tver region regarding the “digital revolution”. State media provide information briefly, focusing on the positive aspects of this experiment. Bloggers and Telegram channels refrain from commenting on the problem with the transition to digital, but local activist Alexey Polukhin still gave his assessment of what happened.
In his Telegram channel, he writes that they often experiment on residents of the Tver region and “test everything that will not bring money in the near future, but can only create problems.”
“Digital television is being introduced not because analogue is morally obsolete. Our heating pipes are morally outdated, but no one is replacing them. Analogue television has simply become too expensive. It has become cheaper to change to digital. The problems of residents - the costs of TVs, set-top boxes and in general “why am I being dragged into 2021 against my will” - were taken into account last. They talked about compensation from the regional budget for the transition to digital for low-income citizens only in November,” writes the blogger.
In his opinion, it is no coincidence that the Tver region was chosen first to switch to digital broadcasting. The reason for this was the low rating of the regional governor Igor Rudeni on the federal agenda. He writes that the governor of the Tver region has not come up with new ideas that would help improve the region, and this can become a huge obstacle to career advancement. But, according to the blogger, a way out was found. This was precisely the transition to digital broadcasting, which should raise Rudeni’s rating in the eyes of the public and superiors.
“The attempt to replace innovation with digital television looks weak, which is obvious to all federal media, which limited themselves to short messages. Igor Rudena needs new meanings and ideas. Either he will force his subordinates to create them, or, at best, he will be stuck in the Tver region for a long time, and at worst, he will retire early,” writes Alexey Polukhin in his Telegram channel.
Experts note
The regional authorities are trying to quickly solve the problems that have arisen in connection with the transition to digital broadcasting. Thus, by calling a specially created hotline, you can not only get up-to-date information on the transition to digital, but also report an illegal increase in prices for set-top boxes and antennas, or find out the addresses of stores where the cost of special equipment has remained the same.
Political scientist Maxim Zharov noted the president’s special attention to the project launched in the Tver region to switch to digital television. “The method of transition to a new broadcasting format, which has now been chosen, may seriously worry people, including in the Tver region. Accordingly, special measures and the personal participation of the president are needed here in order to defuse possible social tension,” states Zharov.
In addition to the president’s intervention in the problem of switching to digital, experts also note the important role of the governor in this issue. Thus, HSE professor Oleg Matveychev said that in order to avoid a surge in citizen discontent, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient level of public awareness.
“Some people still use old TVs and receivers that are not capable of receiving digital broadcasts. Accordingly, when the analog signal is turned off, they will be left without any television or only with a cable network. That is, a social protest may arise, people will be outraged that television has disappeared somewhere. Public awareness will decrease. The governor can carry out explanatory work, for example, calling for the purchase of receivers or decoders; on the other hand, the head of the region can take funds from the budget or attract them from various sources to purchase part of the necessary equipment or compensate the costs of those people who are at risk, socially disadvantaged protected,” the professor said in an interview with RK.
He also emphasized that the experience of the pilot regions can be useful and replicated in other regions of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the director of the Institute for Political Research, Sergei Markov, emphasizes that illiterate organization of the transition to digital broadcasting can lead to negative political consequences.
“We are talking primarily about the poor and marginalized segments of the population.
And the Russian authorities fear that this could lead to the same consequences that were observed after the monetization of benefits, or would be superimposed on the very negative effect of the ill-conceived implementation of the pension reform and will cause mass protests from those people whose rights will be infringed. We are talking, for example, about lonely pensioners who watch old TV most of the day. They don't have money for an inexpensive digital TV. And suddenly, at one moment, this communication channel is turned off. No one knows exactly how many such people there are, because they do not always take part in sociology, some rarely even go outside. Their number can reach several million. In conditions where the population is already irritated by the latest innovations of the authorities such as pension reform, insufficiently competent implementation of digital reform can lead to a very serious drop in the president’s rating and trust in the authorities as a whole,” Markov said. Send with Telegram
Vesti Tver
Analogue broadcasting, in which TV channels have operated since the advent of TV, is planned to be switched off in January 2021. Residents of the Upper Volga region will be able to watch 20 channels in good quality. In terms of significance, this event is compared to the transition from black and white to color images. Digital television is modern broadcasting technology, no more interference.
Elena Ledeneva lives near the center of Tver, but her TV shows poorly. Recently, a mysterious letter A appeared on the screen. And some of her favorite channels disappeared, which completely upset the pensioner. Elena Petrovna is one of the most devoted viewers of the Russia 1 channel, an active subscriber of the Vesti-Tver group on VKontakte. Her old TV receives analog broadcasts. So we decided to give her a gift.
State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Tver" together with the Tver branch of RTRS "Tverskoy ORTPTS" presented the pensioner with a digital set-top box. Now she won’t have problems watching the news and her favorite programs.
Engineer Yakov helped set up the digital signal. The equipment started working literally within 10 minutes. Automatic search has discovered new channels.
“To connect digital television to any TV - to an old analog TV, to new digital TVs with a built-in radio - it’s very simple. For this, a digital set-top box with DVB-T2 support is enough. Accordingly, an antenna cable or an indoor antenna, if you are in the city,” said Yakov Kirillov, leading engineer of the Tver branch of RTRS “Tverskoy ORTPTS”.
Analogue television is long outdated. In January 2021 it will be turned off and all of Russia will switch to digital broadcasting. We have been preparing for this large-scale event for 10 years. During this time, broadcast packages – multiplexes – were formed. They will include 20 television and three radio channels. You can watch it for free. They will be available in all cities and villages of the Upper Volga region. For this purpose, a huge network of repeaters has been built.
“88% of the territory of the Tver region had the ability to receive 1-2 channels. Now the entire population of the region has the opportunity to currently receive 10 channels of the first multiplex and by the end of the year another 10 channels of the second multiplex with regional inserts of the Tver State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company,” emphasized Artem Davydenko, chief engineer of the Tver branch of RTRS “Tverskoy ORTPTS”.
To switch to digital broadcasting, TVs from the last century will need inexpensive additional equipment. Now it is sold in many stores. Owners of modern models, that is, purchased after 2012, need to press auto-tuning on the remote control. The number will appear on its own.
A rich picture, reliable reception and completely free - these are the main advantages of digital television. Starting from January, in the apartments of residents of the Tver region, the image on television screens will be the same as in the production control room.
Determining what signal your TV is receiving is quite simple. If the letter A appears on the screen, then you still have an analogue.
“A large-scale information and explanatory campaign is currently underway, materials will be sent to management campaigns and will be posted on information stands; in addition, information about the equipment and methods of receiving them can be found on the information website smotritsitru.rf and by calling the RTRS hotline 8-800-220- 2002,” explained Artem Davydenko, chief engineer of the Tver branch of RTRS “Tverskoy ORTPTS”.
The transition to digital opens up new opportunities for viewers. Now Elena Petrovna can watch her favorite programs without interference and in excellent quality.
Irina Shlyakhtova, Oleg Surin
New in blogs
For more than ten days, all residents of the region, which became the first region of Russia to completely switch to digital, without exception, have the opportunity to watch 20 publicly accessible federal channels in good quality. According to experts, the process of adaptation to digital TV technologies is going well. On December 3, the final transition to digital broadcasting will take place. To watch 20 TV channels in good quality, you should hurry up and check whether it is possible to receive a DVB-T2 signal on your TV. If not, you will have to buy a console. But in order for such a TV and set-top box to catch a decimeter digital signal of the DVB-T2 standard, you need to have a decimeter antenna. It can be either home or communal.
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The government has determined the period of transition to digital broadcasting
What will happen on December 3? “It is planned to turn off 100 transmitters of eleven federal channels. Regional TV channels, their network partners and channels that are not part of the two multiplexes will continue analogue broadcasting, said Andrei Romanchenko, general director of the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, at a meeting of the government of the Tver region. “After switching off the analogue frequencies of all eleven TV channels, the so-called information screen will be shown for another week - a splash screen with a message that the analogue broadcast has been stopped, and viewers need to set up digital television reception.”
The campaign to inform the population about the upcoming changes in the Tver region began back in June. In addition to the media, management companies, HOA assets, settlement administrations, village elders, social workers, and volunteers are connected to it. The necessary information is posted in shopping centers, MFCs, public transport, banks, and post offices. In crowded places and large work groups, specialists present equipment for connecting to digital TV and explain how to use it. However, according to Andrei Ishchenko, Deputy Government of the Tver Region, during the explanatory work, “a number of risks were identified.”
A set-top box for receiving a digital signal in the Tver region costs on average 800-1000 rubles, an indoor antenna - 600-1000
“For example, it turned out that 90 percent of apartment buildings in the Tver region are provided with equipment for receiving a cable or terrestrial digital signal, and in 10 percent of the houses the collective antenna receives only an analog signal,” explained Andrei Ishchenko. — To solve this problem, we are working with management companies to replace outdated equipment for collective TV signal reception.
One of the possible options, according to the regional government, is to use funds from the regional house overhaul fund to replace and repair antennas. It was proposed to make corresponding changes to regional legislation at the government meeting. In addition, as a representative of the regional association of municipalities said, a significant problem is the confidence of part of the population that the transition to digital TV will happen by itself, and nothing needs to be done for this. However, the majority of the population is still preparing for digital, as evidenced by the number of calls to the hotline of the regional Ministry of Economic Development: after the connection of the second multiplex, their number increased tenfold. Moreover, 70 percent of calls are related to the purchase and setup of equipment, 10 percent of callers asked for help from volunteers, the rest were interested in receiving compensation.
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Equipment for digital broadcasting can be purchased at the post office
By the way, residents of the region with low incomes can count on compensation of a thousand rubles not only if they purchase a set-top box, but also an antenna and even a new TV. As of November 20, more than 300 people applied for compensation to social protection institutions and the MFC, 66 of them have already received money. More than a hundred Tver residents took advantage of the help of volunteers when connecting to digital television.
The regional Ministry of Economic Development, antimonopoly officials and Rospotrebnadzor are ensuring that retail outlets do not inflate prices for equipment. As a price analysis has shown, a set-top box for receiving a digital signal in the region costs on average 800 - 1000 rubles, an indoor antenna - 600 - 1000. Mostly people buy set-top boxes; the demand for TVs has not increased.
* This is an expanded version of the text published in the issue of “RG”
What is needed to switch to digital TV in Tver
In most multi-storey buildings in Tver, the signal is sent through a district repeater. After decoding through the tuner, it is sent through the cable to residential buildings. In such a situation, residents do not need to install additional devices.
If you have a TV built before 2013 or older models, you should purchase a set-top box for it. Its price starts at six hundred rubles. The receiver must function with the MPEG4 format.
For the receiver to function, you will need a remote or folding antenna. The TV tuner can be connected to a shared antenna. If such an antenna is missing, contact the Housing Office.
To connect to digital television, you need a TV purchased in 2013 or later. These devices support the DVB-T2 standard, which provides reception and decoding of digital broadcasting in the Russian Federation. If such a TV is available, then to switch to digital broadcasting in Tver it is enough to configure it through its menu.
Events of the year
The second multiplex was launched throughout the Tver region on November 9, along with broadcasting in digital format. But regional TV channels, their network partners and channels that are not part of the two multiplexes continue to broadcast analogue.
The solemn ceremony of launching the second multiplex and broadcasting in digital format was attended by the head of the Ministry of Communications Konstantin Noskov, the governor of the Tver region Igor Rudenya, the deputy head of the Ministry of Communications Alexey Volin, the general director of the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS) Andrey Romanchenko.
Residents of the region really began to actively prepare for innovations long before the fateful moment for TV, so the process of transition to new technologies is going smoothly. Residents of the Tver region had time to purchase set-top boxes and antennas for receiving a digital signal if their TV does not understand the DVB-T2 standard, or buy a decimeter antenna if it can receive this standard. Moreover, many areas of the region, where the analog signal was always weak, joined the “digital” a few years ago, when terrestrial digital television stations began to appear in the territories, of which there are already 39 today.
“Our residents switched to digital television a long time ago, because the quality of analogue has always been poor,” says the head of the Rameshkovsky district, Alexander Pilyugin. “Even grandmothers in the villages have acquired the necessary consoles. Therefore, everything goes painlessly for us. On the contrary, if recently there were only a few channels, today there are twenty of them. And people, of course, are happy. No one expressed a negative opinion, but I heard positive reviews.
Residents of the region began to prepare for innovations long before the fateful moment for TV, so the process of transition to new technologies is going smoothly
According to the regional government, as of December 4, more than a thousand residents of the region called hotlines for connecting to digital, who needed advice in selecting equipment or assistance in connecting a set-top box and setting up a TV. In such cases, specially trained volunteers respond to calls. They were dressed in specially tailored T-shirts and jackets with symbols of digitalization, so that people were not afraid to let young people into the house.
About a thousand people work in this technical ambulance throughout the region, of which more than sixty work in the regional center. But, as Tver volunteer coordinator Natalya Patsevich admitted, on December 3, the shortage of volunteer helpers became noticeable: despite large-scale explanatory work, relevant media broadcasts, information materials in shopping centers, MFCs, public transport, banks, post offices and places with large numbers of people. people, there are still people for whom the transition to digital broadcasting was unexpected. And already on the first day without analogue television, the hotlines called much more often than usual. For all such requests, we go to the house, having previously found out what kind of TV the family has, what antenna it is, in order to help as quickly as possible.
And in order to quickly solve the problems of residents of apartment buildings that are not equipped with antennas for receiving a digital signal, deputies of the Tver Legislative Assembly made changes to the regional law on major repairs in apartment buildings, and now the installation of collective antennas for “digital” is financed from the capital repair fund.
What channels are available in Tver
There are 3 multiplexes in Tver. The first two of them are regular and broadcast federal news and entertainment channels. The third multiplex operates in testing mode. It includes channels about sports, popular science, and wildlife.
Since August 1 of last year, the television tower in Ostankino has been transmitting signals in the DVB-T2 standard. The channel broadcasts 7.5 hours of special content in UltraHD resolution. All residents of the Tver region and Tver can accept the image.
The transition to digital television in the Tver region will provide a rare opportunity to abandon outdated analogue broadcasting. Digital TV will provide excellent picture and sound.
