QCOSTARICA | By the end of December 2017 Costa Rica television will be completely digital, when all television sets in the country have to comply with the Japanese-Brazilian format or use a converter.
The government announced this week that these devices – the converters – will be 15% cheaper than expected as the selective consumption tax (impuesto selectivo de consumo), currently 15%, will not be applied.
The transition to digital television is a process that is happening at different paces around the world. Although digital satellite television is now commonplace, the switch to digital cable and terrestrial television has taken longer.
However, not all countries are compatible within each standard. Costa Rica chose Japanese – Brazilian standard ISDB.
The Q spoke to several retailers of television sets, they all expect the converted boxes to be less than ¢10,000 colones (US$19 at the current dollar exchange rate).
The United States has adopted ATSC standards for digital terrestrial broadcasts. Canada has adopted the same digital television standard as the United States.
In Central and South America, Panama and Colombia, for example, approved the adoption of the European standard DVB-T, Ecuador chose the ISDB, and Peru the Japanese standard ISDB-T.