Digital TV switchover triggers surge of complaints across Cyprus

Local mediatechnologyTop News Digital TV switchover triggers surge of complaints across Cyprus Tv Relevant News From a Karavas cart dream to a business empire: the life of Nicos Shacolas 2 July 2026 Digital TV switchover triggers surge of complaints across Cyprus 2 July 2026 Roadworks cause chaos in Germasogeia, Deputy Mayor declares “unbelievable inconvenience” 2 July 2026 Petros Afxentiou 2 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Cyprus households have faced a wave of problems since the switch from the old DVB-T broadcasting standard to the newer DVB-T2. Many consumers completed the necessary settings or installed decoders but still couldn’t tune into the new frequencies. Hellas Sat attributes most of the problems to old antenna installations, faulty cabling and unsuitable decoders. The Deputy Ministry of Research and Innovation, meanwhile, says the transition was necessary and that many consumers left the required preparations until the last moment. Where the faults are occurring The Deputy Ministry gave a three-month period for the transition, Hellas Sat CEO Christodoulos Protopapas told philenews. Problems naturally arise once the previous system is switched off, he said, adding that this had happened in other countries too, not only Cyprus. He put the affected households at a small percentage of the total, and said people hadn’t dealt with their issues early enough. Cyprus was obliged to adopt DVB-T2, Protopapas explained, because it delivers a high-definition picture on all televisions and uses the broadcasting spectrum more efficiently, freeing up capacity for mobile telephony. The extra data now carried through cables creates problems in older installations, he said, while homes with signal amplifiers on their antennas can run into trouble because the Hellas Sat signal is strong. Some cabling issues arise, he added, because the new system is more sensitive to older setups than its predecessor. “People installed their decoder, put up their antennas and set up their television,” he said of what most households had done. Hellas Sat teams on standby to help installers Hellas Sat has teams available to support installers, who can contact the company directly for help, Protopapas said. The fault, he stressed, lies not with Hellas Sat but with viewers’ antennas. He pointed to cases where consumers had bought poor-quality decoders unable to receive DVB-T2, and others where the television’s country setting needed changing to activate the new system. Protopapas urged those who can afford it to buy a new television, noting the new system will remain in place for the next 30 years, or otherwise to buy a good-quality decoder. Asked about cases where the television and programme cut out after the new system was activated, he said the cause was either poor cabling or a faulty decoder. In Nicosia, where the signal is considerably stronger, some viewers simply needed to adjust their antenna slightly, he said. Most people, he added, were satisfied. 1,600 calls to Hellas Sat’s call centre The licence for the new network was granted by the Deputy Ministry to Hellas Sat, Andronikos Kakkouras, Deputy Director of the Department of Electronic Communications, told philenews. The change was necessary because the previous licence had expired and the former operator, Velister, showed no interest in continuing operations, he said. Without it, the outdated network would gradually have made television viewing impossible. Kakkouras acknowledged that many people are struggling with the issue. Citizens had a three-month transition period to fix problems in their homes, he said; that’s not an excuse, but many left it until the last day. Hellas Sat’s call centre logged 1,600 calls the day before, he said. The problem stems from television programmes being broadcast in high definition, which makes reception more sensitive for televisions and decoders. Some people had taken steps to tune into the new frequencies but continued to face problems due to faults in their homes’ internal cabling, he added. In some cases, viewers needed to adjust their television settings and select Britain or Greece as the country to decode the signal. Decoder problems Asked whether decoders themselves had caused problems, Kakkouras said there were cases where the system only started working once the decoder was replaced. Worse, he said, some installers had tuned households to Velister’s old frequencies, leaving their televisions not working today. “We expected there would be problems because we are a last-minute people,” he said. Other countries had gone through the same stage and faced similar issues, he added, and plenty of people had also managed to tune in without any difficulty. The service centre offers further information and support on 22 00 07 37. Read more: What Cyprus TV viewers must do before tonight’s frequency switch Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News From a Karavas cart dream to a business empire: the life of Nicos Shacolas Roadworks cause chaos in Germasogeia, Deputy Mayor declares “unbelievable inconvenience” Overnight pharmacies on Thursday, July 2 EU urged to prioritise heart disease prevention policy Father of boys found dead to face negligence charges Mercuryo recognised with Great Place to Work® certification, highlighting strength of its remote-first fintech culture The countdown to Minthis Music Festival 2026 begins Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.