The analogue TV channels will be switched off in stages in five regions of Germany by cable operator, Unitymedia. The switch off will occur starting 1st June 2017 and running through until the end of the month.
The switch-off will start in the southern part of federal state Baden-Württemberg at the beginning of June; followed by the northern part on 6th June. It is also planned to fully digitise the cable network in Hessen on 13th June.
The switch-off for North-Rhine Westphalia will start with the southern part on 20th June followed by the northern part on 27th June.
Christian Hindennach, Senior VP, Consumer at Unitymedia stated that currently some 90% of the network is digitised and the percentage continues to rise.He also said that in Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North-Rhine Westphalia, where the switch-off will occur, a total of around 640.000 households still have analogue TV.
Unitymedia, which is a Liberty Global subsidiary, is planning to use the bandwidth vacated by the analogue TV to extend its digital TV line-up with new HD channels and high-speed Internet. The cable operator also plans to launch 1 Gbit/s Internet access based on DOCSIS 3.1 later this year.
