Analogue Switch off - less than 60 days away!
- Details
- Published Date
- Written by By James Kenny, Account Manager, SKY Business
Of most urgency are those hotels/motels in the Hawkes Bay and South Island's West Coast who will be the first regions affected with the analogue signal shortly terminating.
If you are in the Hawkes Bay province between Norsewood and Tutira or the West Coast of the South Island between Karamea and Haast then you must have your free-to-air channels on a Digital platform by 30 September this year.
Operators in these regions should be seeking professional advice from their local TV installer now to discuss if they haven't already done so.
For the rest of NZ the analogue TV signal will be ending:
Remainder of South Island 28 April 2013
Lower North Island (south of New Plymouth - Taupo-Gisborne)
29 September 2013
Upper North Island 1 December 2013
After these dates the only way to receive TV1, TV2, TV3, C4 and Prime will be with either;
1. Freeview inbuilt in the TV
2. Freeview decoders
3. SKY Guest Select decoder
For those South Island Accommodation providers outside of the West Coast now is the perfect time to explore your TV options. April 2013 is only nine months away, and as we all know NZ enters the silly season in December-January when staff are likely to be away, summer travellers are about and contractors can be hard to obtain. You really don't want to be leaving it till March next year in a panic as the weeks close in with technicians engaged and unavailable doing cable-work at your competing accommodation properties.
When the analogue signal is switched-off that's it, it will not return. A little like when you drive the car with the fuel amber warning light on you simply can't ignore it and you don't want to stall for obvious reasons.
We recommend you seek a commercial TV installer/contractor to assess your TV system as it can't be stressed enough- every place is different with various cable plants/dishes/TV's, all meaning it can become confusing especially when compared to the typical domestic home.
There has been confusion across the entire accommodation industry about the Analogue Switch-Off and this has been illustrated in recent months. When attending a recent Hotel Council conference in Auckland delegates discussed their hotels TV issues with the large number of rooms and secondary TVs in particular.
Also only last month when attending the annual Holiday Parks Conference many owners and managers we spoke with had properties that provide different types of accommodation. Often on large foot-print sites that range from cabins, tourist flats, motel rooms and common rooms and the different TV set-ups required.
Some operators still believe that because they now have Freeview TV's in their rooms then they are sorted. This is not necessarily so, as the TV's still require connection to the Digital feed to allow guests the ability to watch the Freeview Digital channels.
Time is of the essence, and you should ensure you have a TV system set-up to deliver the Free-to-Airs to all your hotel/motel TV's before switch off.
The last thing you want at your property is a disgruntled guest upset that they are not able to catch their must see show such as TV3 News or Shortland Street on TV2 because your place hasn't upgraded.
Here at SKY we utilise a network of commercially-approved independent TV technicians who can provide impartial advice on the TV options available to you. For a modest outlay to assess your system they can provide solutions best for your property. Feel free to contact us on 0800 759 333 for contact details of these contractors.
Getting such advice from an independent TV expert makes economic sense. It will ensure you are in a position to decide what the best options are for your place.
For more information about the change-over to Digital look for: www.goingdigital.co.nz
