Reacting to a story published by Newsbytes.ph, broadcast giant GMA-7 said on Thursday, Feb. 21, that it is indeed testing its equipment on Japanese digital TV standard but pointed out that this does not mean that it is already adopting the platform.
In a statement sent out to media outlets, the TV station said:
?Contrary to a news item that was published last February 18 on the Newsbytes Philippines website, GMA Network reiterated that it continues to maintain its position that the country should adopt the European Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial (DVB-T2) standard over the Japanese digital TV or the Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T), given the clear technical superiority of the European standard,? stated Butch Raquel, GMA Network consultant to the chairman and CEO for corporate communications.
GMA-7 said that ?while it is currently conducting tests utilizing the Japanese standard (ISDB-T), this does not mean that it has conceded its position favoring DVB-T2 nor that it has adopted ISDB-T.?
GMA-7?s stiff opposition to the Japanese digital TV has led to a stalemate in the industry, with Malacanang even stepping in to suspend a decision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) adopting the ISDB-T standard.
The broadcasting industry is still awaiting Malacanang?s final ruling on the issue, although the NTC and the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (ICTO-DOST) have not changed their positions to go with the Japanese standard.
