The ministry takes care of televisions and decoders. We know what will change

As the website virtualmedia.pl reminds, the Ministry of Digitization started consultations in the summer on the draft regulation on technical and operational requirements for digital receivers. Currently, there is a regulation in force according to which devices that can be connected to the Internet must support hybrid television, i.e. HbbTV. The problem is that there are few such decoders on the Polish market. After the regulations came into force, Canal+ even had to suspend the sale of the Canal+ Box 4K decoder. It was resumed only after the digital terrestrial TV tuner was removed. The draft regulation proposes to waive the HbbTV requirement.

The requirements will only apply to TVs

In a comment for the portal, representatives of the Ministry of Digital Affairs emphasize that work on the regulation is at the final stage. – The document is currently being analyzed by the legal committee after the arrangements, consultations and opinions have been completed. According to the current wording of the draft regulation, the obligation to support hybrid television in the HbbTV standard will only apply to receivers with their own display, i.e. TV sets. – explains Mateusz Pawłowicz from the Communication Office of the Ministry of Digitization.

This requirement will not apply to set-top-box decoders supporting DVB-T/T2, which are budget devices.

The representative of the Ministry of Digital Affairs explains the restoration of the requirement to support HbbTV in the case of TV sets with detailed analyses, but also taking into account the positions expressed during consultations and opinions on the project by the telecommunications chambers and the National Broadcasting Council.

Broadcasters estimate that there are approximately 2 million receivers in Poland downloading hybrid TV content.