VRT to drop digital terrestrial TV broadcasts in December

Flemish public broadcaster VRT has announced that it is to end its DVB-T digital terrestrial TV (DTT) broadcasts on 1 December.

VRT DTT offer is available in Flanders and the Brussels region. VRT says that the high cost of operating this service (€1m a year) is not justified by the relatively small number of users (45,000). VRT signalled that it was willing to discuss with TV Vlaanderen, a private digital satellite TV and DTT (using DVB-T2) service provider for the Flanders region, to make its offer available on TV Vlaanderen DTT services.

VRT also indicates that its offer is available via VRT NU (VRT Now), which is accessible on any device and offers also rewind / forward features and catch-up services, via cable (Telenet), IPTV (Proximus-Scarlet-Orange), satellite (TV Vlaanderen) and also via platforms such as Stievie.

Given the long advance notification it is to be expected that most current users of VRT DTT offer are unlikely to lose the service.

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