The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) recommended the adoption of the Japanese standard for the Philippines’ migration to digital terrestrial television.

 “We recommend the Japanese [technology],” said NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordova.

 The commission cited some advantages of using Japanese technology like having early warning devices for tsunami and earthquakes, that sends alerts from 30 seconds to one minute depending on location. It is more cheaper and it can also use mobile phones as TV monitors.

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said recently that it has spent almost a billion pesos to go into digital TV.

 The Lopez-led said that it is just waiting for the government to issue a standard, whether that will be based on Japanese or European technology.

There were earlier reports saying that the NTC will endorse to the Palace the adoption of the Japanese standard for the Philippines’ migration to digital terrestrial TV.

Digital television is an innovative transmitting technology that has transformed television-viewing experience. It has enabled broadcasters to offer television with better picture and sound quality, and offers multiple programming choices.

In April 2011, the NTC ordered all broadcasting companies in the Philippines to shut off their analog signal by December 2015 and switch to digital broadcast. GMA Network Inc. also said recently that it would be the last network to adopt to digital television, because of the economic situation of Filipino TV viewers.

The network said it is capable of producing and broadcasting programs on high-definition or digital television, but it might still take some time before local networks could start transmitting digitally. GMA also said that the country still has a low percentage of high-definition ready TV sets versus analog TV sets.

But the broadcasting company is ready to replace its transmitter with one that has digital technology, and households can just buy set-up boxes to allow their analog television sets to receive digital signals. However, the set-up boxes are still expensive for households to purchase and GMA doesn’t have the money to give away such devices.

 With the NTC choosing Japanese technology, the Philippines has foregone the adoption of the Advanced Television System Committee system implemented by North American broadcasters, which was devised as a replacement for the National Television System Committee system utilized by North America and the Philippines.