​A Workshop on 'Assistance for Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB)' took place successfully at ITU HQ in Geneva on 27 October to discuss and share practical experiences related to DTTB implementation. Jointly organized by ITU,  the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Broadcast Networks Europe (BNE) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), the workshop focused on licensing and business models, network specifications, quality of service and receiving equipment specifications.

"This workshop has provided an excellent opportunity for dialogue among stakeholders in public and private sectors and in the TV industry," said ITU Secretary- General Houlin Zhao.

"Given DTT's unique social and economic opportunities, governments, broadcasters and other industry stakeholders should collaborate to the maximum extent possible in order to accelerate its roll out," said François Rancy, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

Terrestrial Television (Analogue and DTT) remains the backbone to free-to-air TV access and the most widely used means of receiving television globally although television programs are also available on other platforms such as satellite, cable and IPTV.

"Almost 200 million European households can receive DTT in 2015, according to IHS, from which 81 million households rely on DTT as the main platform to receive TV" said Marcello Lombardo of EBU, the Chairman of the Workshop.

Despite the success of DTT, many countries around the world are yet to complete the digital switchover process. To help promote the win-win scenario that successful DTT offers, ITU, EBU, BNE and DVB have embarked on a process to share knowledge and bring experts together from around the world to facilitate the introduction of DTT in countries still reliant on analogue TV.