OREANDA-NEWS. November 23, 2010. The meeting addressed the transition to digital TV and radio broadcasting. This year, access to transmission by digital signals will be made available to over 20 million people in 16 of the nation’s regions.

According to the President, it is important not only to make digital television accessible to citizens throughout the entire nation by 2015, but also to make it more interesting and of better quality.

Taking part in the meeting were First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Alexei Gromov, Presidential Press Secretary Natalya Timakova, and Minister of Telecommunications and Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Today, we are meeting to discuss the development of television and radio broadcasting in our nation and the transition to digital broadcasting. Overall, this is a familiar topic that we have addressed several times already; I dealt with this issue when I was working in the Cabinet. This work has been started and is underway. My understanding is that we do not have any major delays.

Our goal is to have digital television access throughout the nation by 2015. I am certain that we will meet this goal; we must not lag behind in our scientific and technological progress. We must do everything just as we planned. We have made a series of decisions, including those concerning the first set of digital channels, the so-called first DTT multiplex.

I hope that all of you will brief me on the progress of forming this DTT multiplex. I would like to point out that we need to work not only on the first set, but the second and third sets as well, because our goal is to broaden the options available to our citizens, and as we discussed many times, this choice should be no worse than in Moscow. How many channels do we have in Moscow?

REPLY: 21 or 22.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Yes, twenty-two. More than twenty channels. Indeed, that is the goal: for people living in Anadyr or other distant parts of our nation – in any village – to be able to get the same number of channels as do Muscovites. That is the essence of a common digital space. That is where the positive effects of global information technologies can be seen. This year, we are implementing a digital broadcasting framework in 16 regions, thus allowing more than 20 million people to receive digital signal.

We must give particular attention to regions bordering on other – neighbouring – states, for obvious reasons, not only because it’s easy of use, but for security reasons too. The goal remains as before: to make television more interesting and ensuring better quality.