Television in Spain

As I'm sure we are all aware, Spain changed from analogue to digital television transmission recently. In the week before the changeover, the shops were full of TDT boxes for sale, knowing full well that most people didn't have a digital TV to accept the transmissions.

And no, they weren't all that cheap either, being in the €40 price range each on average.

The problem is that large parts of Spain are mountainous, with limited television reception. Huge pockets never received a good analogue signal, and these same pockets now receive no television at all. Digital, while on a tighter waveband, also needs crystal clear reception to give a watchable picture.

I was listening to a Spanish radio station talking about the problem, and went away with the impression that something like 60% of the country has lost their TV transmissions, but I may be mistaken and the actual figure is a lot lower.

Another case of moving too quickly without the necessary infrastructure in place.