Beware of rushing to turn off DTT

Four days ago, 2030 was being discussed as a possible date for shutting down DTT, that is, traditional over-the-air channels. It was assumed that by then, virtually all viewing would have shifted to online television, and therefore, the airtime occupied by traditional channels could be freed up for growing demand in the mobile sector and the Internet of Things. Fortunately, this 2030 threshold has fallen, and now there's talk of 2040... at the earliest. A brief study of the history of media shows that they rarely disappear: rather, they overlap and complement each other. The disappearance of DTT, although it makes perfect sense from a technological perspective, would be worrying in terms of democratic health. And in Catalonia, even more so.

To begin with, DTT guarantees a free and universal service, with the sole cost being the purchase price of the device. Reception is the same for everyone, regardless of income. In contrast, IPTV already includes a first discrimination: those who pay more receive more bandwidth, faster speeds, and therefore higher definition. Not to mention the problem of dark areas without coverage. But, above all, what worries me most about a world without DTT is the dependence on macrostructures and telecommunications networks over which the people have no oversight. Radio broadcasting, on the other hand, is a public good, and even if it's managed by a state, there's the possibility of removing those in power if they don't like it. It should be noted that in Catalonia, DTT has ultimately backfired, as decisions hostile to Catalan have blocked reciprocal broadcasting between TV3, IB3, and À Punt. Nevertheless, DTT provides a greater degree of sovereignty than an internet that's clearly drifting toward authoritarianism.