Tajik authorities and civil society discuss transition from analogue to digital broadcasting
A one-day roundtable discussion on opportunities and perspectives that the transition to digital broadcasting offers to Tajikistan concluded in Dushanbe on 2 March 2018. It was attended by more than 70 representatives from the government, parliament and civil society representatives.
The event was jointly organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and the State Committee on TV and Radio of the Republic of Tajikistan.
The participants discussed the draft State Programme and Action Plan for the transition to digital broadcasting, developed by a Working Group under the State Committee on TV and Radio of Tajikistan with the close support by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. International experts, invited by the OSCE Programme Office, contributed to the discussion with advice and best practice on technical modernization plans designed to permit each TV and radio company operating in Tajikistan to conduct a smooth transition to digital broadcasting.
Olim Salimzoda, Chairman of Majlisi Namoyandagon’s Committee on International Relations, Public Organizations and Information, said: “Transition from analogue to digital broadcasting is the result of the latest developments in the field of information and communication technologies. This process has primarily political, and then economic, social and cultural significance.”
Tuula Yrjola, Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, said: "Digital switchover is an opportunity to better serve human rights and democracy. In times of fast changing technologies, all media, and public service media in particular, face unprecedented challenges. In order to preserve a pluralistic and independent environment, which is a key element of democracy, public broadcasters are vital as providers of quality content. This is why they must be in a position to compete with all the other media, using all the possibilities offered by the digitalization."
At the end of the roundtable discussion the participants adopted a set of recommendations to be submitted to the Working Group on the Transition to Digital Broadcasting, for development of the final draft of Tajikistan’s action plan on digital switchover.