Costa Rica has initiated meetings to address the change to digital television looking to the Spanish company Ingenia-Telecom as neutral mediator between the government and operators.
In a forum held by the National Chamber of Radio and Television, companies operating open channels emphasized the lack of a public policy to order the transition to digital television.
Small television broadcasters in Costa Rica are planning to join forces and obtain international financing to acquire the necessary funds to adapt to digital technologies.
Companies operating regional television channels in the country, which have more limited budgets and reduced ability to access financing, are contacting their peers in order to join forces and improve conditions for international loans and buy the equipment to make the transition from analog to digital signals.
Lack of coordination among the agencies involved in the start-up of digital tv has caused its introduction to be delayed until at least July.
"The schedule was to start digital signals in January, but we could not do it because we didn't have the legal discretion of the Procuraduría, who sets out the field and defines the legal model to be used. The entity in this case, said that it will grant experimental use permits (probationary periods) to companies ," said Rowland Espinosa, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications.