The Costa Rican Social Assistance Mixed Institute (IMAS) announced that on July 15th it will deliver STBs to 7,500 families in extreme poverty conditions to migrate to DTT. According to the Institute, the initiative is focused on  family groups that do not have any pay TV services hired or a TV set able to receive the DTTnetwork, or that live in areas where the analog blackout will take place. According to Francisco Delgado, Development and Social Inclusion Vice Minister, one STB will be delivered per family.

Delgado explained that each STB costs USD 25 per unit.  USD 507.4 million are required to buy them, and USD 191 million to make sure that families mentioned above can access the DTT system. Apart from that, the Institute said that the money will be given directly to business and STB’s suppliers.

As announced by the Costa Rican Government, the analog blackout in that country will be developed in two stages: the first will start next August 14th, date in which it was originally set, and the second stage will be developed on the same date 2020. Next August 14th, the analog blackout will start in the so-called ‘Region 1’, which includes broadcasts from the Irazu Volcano National Park. According to the Costa Rican Statistics and Census National Institute (INEC), it covers around 80% of the country’s population. On August 14th, 2020 will begin the second stage of the process, named as the ‘Region 2’, with the remaining 20% of the country’s inhabitants. Luis Adrián Salazar, Science, Technology and Telecommunications Minister, expressed that, because of the advanced state of the project, it is expected that the country has migrated to DTT before that date.