Teo gives up HD licence for DTT

Lithuanian service provider Teo is giving up its licence to re-broadcast Eurosport HD, Discovery Showcase HD and National Geographic Channel HD over the digital-terrestrial network in the country’s second city, Kaunas, having earlier switched off the service in the capital, Vilnius.

Teo launched HD broadcasts of Eurosport HD, Discovery Showcase HD and National Geographic Channel HD channels for DVB-T viewers in Vilnius and Kaunas in 2009, after winning a tender by the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission. However, the broadcaster says that a change in transmission services rates meant that it was no longer economic for it to continue. The Vilnius signal was switched off on April 1, and the service will be discontinued in Kaunas when Teo’s licence in the area expires on June 1.

Teo said it would continue to to make the HD versions of the three channels available via its Teo Smart TV IPTV service.

“Rebroadcasting of HD channels over DVB-T in Vilnius has become economically infeasible. In the absence of possibilities for the country-wide development of HD rebroadcasts, we are forced to give up HD rebroadcasts in Kaunas too. However, we continue to expand our fibre-optic access network in order that as many as possible residents of Lithuania have access to the modern technology-based Teo Smart TV,” said Nerijus Ivanauskas, head of B2C at Teo.