Published:  29.11.2022

[Helsinki] 29, November 2022 – On 21 November 2022, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency notified Digita of its decision concerning Digita’s significant market power (SMP) in the market for television and radio broadcasting services. The Agency’s decision also made Digita’s voluntary commitments binding.

As part of the SMP decision, Digita made commitments to reduce the distribution costs for TV companies. “When the decision enters into force, our TV distribution service price will decrease by nearly 6 per cent immediately. We hope that these discounts in this time of rising price trends will encourage TV companies to invest in the development of antenna TV distribution,” says Teppo Ahonen, Vice President, TV Services.

In delivering on its commitments, Digita has also constructed a model, which it hopes will kick-start the transition to HD in the terrestrial network in earnest. “We will offer a free-of-charge simulcast period to TV companies committed to national HD distribution. This will ensure that TV companies do not incur additional distribution costs by broadcasting standard-definition and HD programmes simultaneously,” says Ahonen. In addition, as Digita switches to broadcasting exclusively in HD, it will further reduce the service prices. Hopefully, this will incentivise TV companies to expedite their transition to better-quality high-definition (HD) broadcasts.

Terrestrial TV is the only distribution channel that is free of charge for consumers. This is possible because TV companies pay to broadcast channels in their chosen regions of Finland. Today, terrestrial TV offers households up to 18 free-to-view TV channels and dozens of pay-TV channels under the Antero brand. In addition, terrestrial TV channels offer a wide range of hybrid TV services, which viewers can access by connecting a modern smart TV to the internet. Terrestrial TV can be received by 99.96% of people in Finland and more than 99% of Finnish holiday homes.

Media contacts:

Digita Ltd, Teppo Ahonen, Vice President, TV, tel. +358 40 563 0299, teppo.ahonen@digita.fi