Free-to-air MinDig TV service was launched in Nógrád county - the digital television network will continue to expand with Karancs site in the first quarter of 2011

The commercial digital terrestrial television service was launched in Nógrád county by a ceremonial event as of today. Dr. Melinda Sztrémi, Székyné, Mayor of Salgótarján and Rudolf Kárpáti, Director of Antenna Hungária jointly pushed the button, which launched the digital terrestrial television service from Salgótarján transmission site. At the same time the digital television transmission was launched from Ózd and Kazincbarcika sites in North of Hungary. Antenna Hungária launched the commercial service from 14 new sites in December, the population coverage of the digital network grew up to 95%. The reception of MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra services will continue to expand in Nógrád county in the first quarter of 2011, when the DVB-T transmission will be launched from the Karancs peak.

On December 15, 2010 Dr. Melinda Sztrémi, Székyné, Mayor of Salgótarján and Rudolf Kárpáti, Director of Antenna Hungária jointly pushed the button, which put into operation the digital terrestrial television service from Salgótarján transmission site. The media event was followed by a professional workshop with the participation of the representatives of the transmission company, the equipment distributors and antenna installers.

Antenna Hungária launched the commercial service from 14 new sites in December, the population coverage of the digital network grew up to 95%. At the same time with Salgótarján, the digital television transmission was launched from Ózd and Kazincbarcika sites in North of Hungary. The network expansion enables better conditions to receive the MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra programs, providing enhanced reception conditions for the viewers beyond the rooftop antenna method. So as to enhance the coverage of Nógrád county, Antenna Hungária will launch the digital transmission from the Karancs peak, enabling the reception of MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra services for the majority of the county.

In parallel with the network extention, MinDig TV Extra service was enlarged by HBO program as of December 1. It appears as a standalone channel and can be subscribed even with the free-to-air channels, which is a unique offer on the Hungarian market. Antenna Hungária Group launched two promotion campaigns for the Christmas season: in the frame of the MinDig TV promotion, everybody, who buys a promotional MinDig TV receiver, gets 10 additional channels for half a year. MinDig TV Extra offers a half-priced set-top-box or CA-module (HUF 9,990 and HUF 4,990 respectively) in case of a one-year subscription. AXN channel will be available time-shared with Euronews program for all of the 125,000 MInDig TV households every evening in December month without a subscription fee.

According to the very recent sales figures as of end of October, almost 10% of the Hungarian households had DVB-T MPEG-4 receiver (set-top-box, integrated TV set, PCI card or USB stick) at home. The actual usage of the MinDig TV service has exceeded 125,000 households. The choice of MinDig TV stickered products is growing continuosly, presently 15 types of decoders and 107 types of IDTV’s are available. MinDig TV stickered recevers can be purchased in more and more shops and chains, there are more than 600 shops selling such receivers all over the country. Parallel to this, the average price of the decoders decreased by 35% compared with the last year, turning them into the ‘perfect gift’ for this Christmas.

The conversion process to the MinDig TV service is also boosted by the distribution of flat-screen TVs, as today we can hardly find LCD or plasma TV-set marketed in Hungary without a DVB-T MPEG-4 tuner, necessary for the reception of the MinDig TV service. Hereby for those viewers, upgrading their old TV-sets to LCD or plasma TV-sets equipped with a DVB-T MPEG-4 tuner, there is no need to buy a separate set-top-box for the usage of the MinDig TV service.

Antenna Hungária

Further information:
Antenna Hungária
András Tóth

Head of Communication

Tel: +36 1 464-2110
E-mail: totha [kukac] ahrt [pont] hu

About MinDig TV (www.mindigtv.hu)
About MinDig TV Extra (www.mindigtvextra.hu)