A huge lack of knowledge regarding the technology of Digital Terrestrial Television and its advantages are the main vectors to be drawn from an OberCom study on the Perspectives for the Implementation of Digital Television in Portugal. The analysis shows that this lack of perception of the benefits also leads to the non-planning of the change to digital.
The study was conducted with direct interviews with 1041 people, in a representative sample of the population residing in Mainland Portugal. According to the report, even after a brief explanation to the respondents about what digital television and DTT is, a high proportion of the “do not know / do not answer” category stands out.
79.1 percent of respondents who currently receive TV signals via antenna say they have not yet been able to understand what DTT is, lowering that percentage to 64 percent for cable network users.
Regarding expectations for improvement through DTT, 52.8 percent of respondents opted for the “do not know / do not answer” response category. Answer that was also chosen by 45.1 percent of respondents in the question “Will DTT be expensive?”, And also in the question “is the use of digital services complicated?”, In which 42.8 percent also answered “no” knows / doesn’t answer “.
In addition to the low knowledge revealed, when answering questions with statements of “agree” and “do not agree”, most respondents believe that DTT will be expensive (49.2%), its use is complicated (34.8 %) and that it has no advantages (22.2%).
Given the lack of emotional involvement with the migration process to the digital system, the Obercom study considers that “the conditions for developing sustainable demand for the digital television market in general, and DTT in particular are at risk”.
The study considers it essential to evaluate “the sphere of access (knowledge, cost and usability) as well as understanding the human factors underlying the adoption or rejection of a given technology (namely, identifying the real needs of users, fostering an increase in the degree of awareness in relation to the platform, and offer benefits that are perceived as a real improvement in the television experience) “.
