Digital TV Comes To Cuba

The coming Cuban switchover to digital TV has failed to convince viewers that technical progress will make any difference to the heavily politicised content of programmes.

Cuba is to switch over to digital broadcasting by 2021. The new system will be phased in until it is available everywhere, and then the analogue broadcasts will be switched off.

The first trials began in June, with digital decoders distributed to 45,000 homes in the Luyanó and Santos Suárez neighbourhoods of the capital Havana. The pilot will be extended to about 60 other neighbourhoods in the city over the next few months.

The package includes three Cuban channels - music, children’s programmes and the international Cubavision, plus five channels from the Venezuelan network TeleSur.

Some viewers involved in the trials have complained that image quality is poor, with frequent freezing.

It is estimated that four out of five homes in Havana have televisions, often ancient Soviet-made sets.

Many Cubans think state TV is dull and lacks the variety and entertainment available on foreign channels, so although satellite and cable television is illegal in Cuba, people risk heavy fines to get access. (See  Cubans Defy Cable TV Ban.)

Whether the new technology will bring fresher approaches to programming remains in doubt.

Ana Ellen, a psychologist, fears that digital TV will be “the same dog in a different collar”.

“TV will continue to be politicised,” she predicted.

Carlos Ríos Otero is an independent journalist reporting from Havana and a member of the Press Freedom Association in Cuba.

This story was first published on IWPR’s website.