Digital roadblock

IT Minister Dana Bérová hints that TV Nova and TV Prima are among the major obstacles to full-scale digital broadcasting. They have analog licenses through 2017-18 and want to protect their territory. When Nova and Prima were working hand-in- hand, digitalization was an attractive way to break their duopoly, but with the new competition between the stations, consumers must ask whether digital TV is actually worth it. Not only will digitalization mean buying an expensive set-top box for each TV, but also programming two pieces of equipment to record a TV show. No more watching one show and recording another, unless viewers buy fancy PVRs with digital tuners. All the would- be broadcasters who are maneuvering for a piece of the ad pie are downplaying the size of the uproar once consumers realize how much digital broadcasting is going to cost them. [Czech Republic digitization television personal video recorders information technology advertising commercials]