Amendment to media bill passed

A much-discussed amendment to the country's media law has passed in the Lower House. On Friday 88 of 120 MPs present voted in favour, to lay the foundations for widespread digital broadcasting. Currently, the country has four nation-wide analogue channels, two belonging to public broadcaster Czech TV, two to commercial broadcasters TV Nova and Prima. It is estimated that under the wave of digitalisation as many as 24 new channels could come into being, both for national as well as regional audiences. Some digital broadcasting began in the Czech Republic last year, not covering the whole of the country.

All analogue broadcasters are expected to make the transition to digital between the years 2010 - 2012.