Bonus tv and decoder from December 18: discount and procedures

19 November 2019 – The decree law of the Ministry of Economic Development gives the green light to the bonus for those who buy televisions and decoders. The change will be necessary, by 30 June 2022, to receive the TV signal that will be transported along the digital terrestrial frequencies with a new technology, renamed DVB-T2.
These are mini incentives, with a maximum discount of 50 euros. It will be possible to request the contribution, either by physically buying it in the shop or online, starting from the 30th day after the publication of the decree in the Official Journal and until December 31st 2022, obviously until all resources are exhausted. Which currently amount to 151 million euros.

ISEE self-certification

The incentive is provided for families with an overall income (Isee) up to 20,000 euros. They will download from the website of the Ministry of Development a form, with which they will certify that they fall within the category of income benefited by the contributions.

New technology

To receive the new signal radiated in DVB-T2, you will need to have televisions that are compatible with this new TV signal transport technology. Alternatively, to view the new DTT (DVB-T2), we can store the old TV and hook up a small decoder. Decoder very cheap, certainly below the 50 euro bonus.

Satellite alternative

The alternative is free satellite. In this case, it will be necessary to buy the TivuSat decoder (fielded by the company that has Rai and Mediaset as its founding partners). Currently, TivuSat has 3 and a half million active cards. This TivuSat decoder costs a lot. We need at least 120 euros. But even this TivuSat decoder can be purchased with the 50 euro bonus (the decree cites the satellite and cable as technologies allowed to contribute).

Calendar

It starts from 18 December 2019. The contribution will remain in place until December 2022. Public funding amounts to 25 million for 2019, 76 million for 2020, 25 million for 2021, 25 million for 2022. Let's talk about 151 million in four years. A not huge figure. The Conte government, however, could allocate additional sums with the upcoming Budget laws.

Actual deadlines

Television stations (such as Rai, Mediaset, la7 or the local) – the website of La Repubblica emphasizes – will broadcast their channels with the DVB-T2 standard starting from 30 June 2022. But the first important deadline, in reality, is more nearby. Starting as early as September 1, 2021, broadcasters will send an old signal encoding system that experts call MPEG-2 into the attic. What does this really mean? It means that all TV channels will be broadcast in high definition. Therefore, from September 2021, only those televisions suitable for high definition reception will be able to receive channels.