Sharp decline in number of TV licences after switch to digital TV

Subtitling problems plague new format

Mikael Jungner

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The number of Finnish residents paying their television licence fees has fallen since the switchover to digital broadcasting in September.
      The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Finland's public-service broadcaster, gets most of its income from the TV licence fee.
      Latest figures indicate that the number of paid TV licences has declined by 53,000 from the same period last year.
      A total of 30,000 have cancelled their licences, and the rest of the decline is attributed to the non-renewal of licences by many.
      "This is leaving a gap of EUR 10 million in the YLE budget. The situation is serious, but not catastrophic", says YLE Director-General Mikael Jungner. He points out that the switch to digital broadcasting saved YLE EUR 20 million.
     
The main reason that people have given up their TV licences is that there have been glitches in the digital TV technology. Subtitling problems especially have reduced the number of viewers.
      YLE has been receiving dozens of complaints on the matter every day. An information hot line was opened on Monday to help deal with viewer problems.
      "I have received several calls of complaint myself. I tell the callers to unplug the digital decoder and restart it. The subtitles will often appear when that is done", Jungner says.
     
However, some of the decoders need to be updated at a repair shop. Certain models appear to be more prone to problems than others, but Jungner says that YLE has not wanted to specify any such models in public, for fear of legal action by importers.
      "Our legal experts are currently studying if it is possible to reveal the names", Jungner says.
      The last resort for dealing with subtitles would be to burn the subtitles onto the TV images. This would solve the problem of the non-appearance of subtitles, but it would also hurt versatility of the technology, by making it impossible to select the language of subtitling, or to introduce special services for the disabled.
      Jungner says that a solution to the problem is needed by the end of the year.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helplines congested as Finland switches over to digital television (3.9.2007)
  The great consensus that gave birth to digital TV (27.8.2007)
  Digital television era comes in tonight (31.8.2007)

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