Mandatory TV scrapping at the start: this is how it works

The campaign has officially begun in recent days scrapping of old televisions in view of the transition to new technology DVB-T2 which on 30 June 2022 will definitively turn off the old digital terrestrial broadcasting mode. This simply means that everyone who has a TV equipment purchased before 2017 first of all they will have to check whether it is compatible with the new standard and, if it is not, they will have to either buy a new television or get a new decoder to avoid being at the end of the transition period, as indicated, with a black screen.

MANDATORY SCRAPPING TV, HOW IT WORKS

Let's go in order: our country too will have to adapt to European regulations which provide for the release of frequencies around 700Mhz to allow the expansion of new advanced telecommunications services. In particular, the freed up frequencies can be used for use by mobile telephone operators (purchased recently with an auction which has returned to the State over 6 billion euros) for the development of 5G. To stay within the television arena, it will be possible to download a movie at a significantly higher speed than is possible today.

The so-called "TV bonus" derives from the 2019 Budget Law and provides for the use of resources, currently defined as exhausted, up to 151 million euro. For citizens, it is a question of supporting an important commitment as it will be necessary to review the entire television "park" present in their homes because, as is known, in Italian homes there are on average more than one television per family. 

TV BONUS FOR SCRAPPING, WHO HAS THE RIGHT

The contribution to the scrapping of the old TV, available from last December 18 until December 2022, is addressed to everyone households with an ISEE income of up to 20 euros. The mechanism for granting the 50 euro contribution requires that a self-certification be presented at the time of purchase stating that you are an Italian citizen, that you belong to a family unit with income included in the indicated range and that other members of the same family have no already benefited from the same grant. However, before proceeding with the purchase, it will be advisable to check whether the device already owned or the one you intend to purchase is present as a suitable product inside thelist published on the MISE website.

All this with regard to the "hardware" part of the new technological season of television. We will then have to understand if and how this change, this very significant innovation, will have consequences in the television consumption habits of Italians. In the previous mutation, from the analogue system to the digital one, the first generation DTT, the advantages were numerous and substantial in terms of quality and quantity of the television signal.

TV SCRAPPING: NETFLIX LURKING

Now the match is much more complex and an important ground of contention is on communication to users. In fact, it will be necessary to clearly describe the advantage of the transition to DVB-T2, and both institutions and broadcasters will have to do it, and among these in the first place Rai, and it will be necessary to adequately support the motivation of viewers to make this economic commitment. Fearsome adversaries stand out on the digital terrestrial horizon, primarily OTTs such as Netflix, Amazon and company which could take advantage of the possibility of using old televisions for watching movies and entertainment on their own platforms, in connection with the Internet. The stakes are very high. We will closely monitor how the match unfolds.