DVB-T2
Romania
### Romania

Although Romania started DVB\-T broadcasting in 2005 with the [MPEG\-2](/wiki/MPEG-2 "MPEG-2") standard for SD broadcast and MPEG 4 for HD, it was only experimental. In June 2011 Romania shifted to MPEG4 both for SD and HD. In 2012, the Romanian authorities decided that DVB\-T2 will be the standard used for terrestrial broadcasts, as it allows a larger number of programs to be broadcast on the same multiplex. Romania's switchover plans were initially delayed due to economical and feasibility\-related reasons. One of the reasons was that most Romanian consumers already extensively used either cable or satellite services, which developed very quickly and became very popular after 1990\. In fact, a technological boom started around 2003, driven by a solid economical development in the field of telecommunications, made several private operators create large networks of fiber optics and cable covering all of Romania, which are now used for providing both TV, telephony, and high quality broadband internet. As the prices for complete packages (TV, internet, telephony) are low and the quality is quite good (e.g. about 20 EUR for 500 Mbit/s internet, ≈120 SD and HD digital cable TV channels and telephony, with an added 2\-4 EUR for mobile telephony), the interest for over\-the\-air TV quickly became very low. There are rumors that commercial broadcasters that traditionally transmitted over\-the\-air using analogue channels (like [MediaPro](/wiki/MediaPro "MediaPro"), [Antena GROUP](/wiki/Antena_GROUP "Antena GROUP"), [Prima TV](/wiki/Prima_TV "Prima TV")) will give up terrestrial broadcasting and will be available only on pay\-TV services, like cable, satellite and IPTV. It is also rumored that the DVB\-T standard (with MPEG\-4 encoding) will continue until 2018\.

On 17 June 2015, analogue terrestrial television was switched off, with the exception of the main public TV program (TVR1\) which will continue to be broadcast strictly in the VHF band until the end of 2016\.

Free\-to\-air DVB\-T2 broadcasts on MUX1 (provided by the state\-owned Radiocom) are available since June 2015 in Timișoara (UHF channel 21, 474\.00 MHz), Cluj\-Napoca (UHF channel 26, 514\.00 MHz), Iasi (UHF channel 25, 506\.00 MHz), and Bucharest (UHF channel 30, 546\.00 MHz). The coverage will be extended so that at the end of 2016, over 90% of the territory will be covered. For now (2015/06/30\), only five channels are broadcast on MUX1: TVR1, TVR2, TVR News, TVR 3, and TVR HD, with plans to be extended to 14\-16 SD and HD programs. Radiocom's MUX2 and MUX4 implementations will also start in 2016\. Legacy DVB\-T broadcasts are still available in Bucharest: 6 channels can be received on channels 54 and 59, but will be shut down eventually, being replaced by DVB\-T2\. TVR announced that TVR News and TVR 3 will be closed, and the fate of TVR HD, is uncertain. This will lower the number of channels available on DVB\-T. On 2 July 2015, Kanal D Romania left the terrestrial platform. The only broadcast that remained on terrestrial except TVR is Antena 3, but it is unknown whether it will stay on DVB\-T, will shift to DVB\-T2 or completely leave terrestrial platform. This will lead to only 3 channels in DVB\-T2, and with many TV sets that are only DVB\-T compatible (most of sold models being equipped with digital cable tuner) to an unattractive terrestrial platform, and more and more people will subscribe to a cable provider, or a DTH operator in areas where there is no cable TV available.

The DVB\-T transmitters were shut down since 1 September 2016, so only the DVB\-T2 network remains on air. As of 1 October 2016, 85% of the population and 78% of the Romanian territory (as stated by the broadcaster) are covered by DVB\-T2 signal. The 9 TV channels that are broadcast at the moment are produced by the national television: TVR HD \+ 8 SD channels TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Cluj, TVR Craiova, TVR Iasi, TVR Timișoara, TVR Tg Mures.


How will the closure of TVR News, TVR 3 affect the number of channels available on DVB-T2?