title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Thailand and the rest of ASEAN countries (with the exception of the Philippines; see above) have selected DVB-T as the final DTV standard, and are expected to switch off analogue broadcasts completely by 2015. In June 2008, participants of the 6th ASEAN Digital Broadcast Meeting from seven south-east Asian countries (including Thailand) agreed to finalise the specifications of the DTV set-top box for use within ASEAN, and also set up an ASEAN HD Centre to provide training on HDTV content to broadcasters in the region.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Even though MCOT's trial was a success, the future of the digital terrestrial television transition has become uncertain, especially after the end of Somchai Wongsawat's tenure as the prime minister and the beginning of successor Abhisit Vejjajiva's reign in favor of his concept.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In March 2011, MCOT announced that it is also possible that MCOT may be planning to switch to DVB-T2 some time in the future to replace DVB-T.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The Switch-off Date has been planned for 2020. (Only for Channel 3 (Thailand)) For now, five analogue channels has been off-air since 16 June 2018(Thai Public Broadcasting Service and Channel 7 (Thailand)), 21 June (Channel 5 (Thailand)) and 16 July (Channel 9 MCOT HD and NBT)


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Australia uses DVB-T. The transition to digital television and the phaseout of analogue television was completed on 10 December 2013.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: New Zealand uses DVB-T. The transition to digital television and the shutdown of analogue transmissions was completed on 1 December 2013


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of 2001, three countries had introduced DTT: the UK, Sweden and Spain. Their total TV viewership market shares were 5.7%, 2.3% and 3.5% respectively.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The EU recommended in May 2005 that its Member States cease all analogue television transmissions by 1 January 2012. Some EU member states decided to complete the transition as early as 2006 for Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and 2007 for Finland. Latvia stopped broadcasting analogue television from 1 June 2010. Poland completed the transition on 23 July 2013 and Bulgaria completed the transition on 30 September 2013. Malta switched on 1 November 2011. ASO was mostly completed in Europe in 2013 though small hilly underpopulated isolated terrain areas awaited DTT rollout beyond that date.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Many TV-viewers TV-equipment in Europe might experience TV-interference and blocking because of 800 MHz broadband usage.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of 2018, DTT is the main TV reception for 27.7 percent of the EU27 countries. Croatia, Greece, Italy and Spain all have DTT penetration over 50 percent of total TV reception.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Bulgaria launched a free-to-air platform on Sofia region, starting in November 2004. Standards chosen are DVB-T and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression format. DVB-T2 will not be used at this time. The Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) has said that it received 6 bids for the licence to build and operate Bulgaria's two nationwide DTT networks. A second licence tender for the operation of 3 DTT multiplexes was open until 27 May 2009. Following the closing of this process, Hannu Pro, part of Silicon Group, and with Baltic Operations has secured the license to operate three DTT multiplexes in Bulgaria by the country's Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) Bulgaria officially completed the transition to digital broadcasting on Monday, 30 September 2013.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Flanders has no free-to-air television, as Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT shut off its DVB-T service on 1 December 2018 citing minimal usage. VRT cited that only 1 percent of Flemish households made use of the terrestrial signal, and that it was not worth the €1 million to upgrade to DVB-T2. After some outcry over the loss of terrestrial coverage, VRT's channels were added to TV Vlaanderen's subscription DVB-T2 package called Antenne TV alongside all major Dutch-language commercial channels.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: French-language public broadcaster RTBF remains available in Brussels and Wallonia via DVB-T transmissions.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: 95 percent of Belgium is covered by cable, well above the EU28 average of 45.1 percent, which can explain the low terrestrial usage in the country.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: DTT had its technical launch in Denmark in March 2006 after some years of public trials. The official launch was at midnight on 1 November 2009 where the analogue broadcasts shut down nationwide.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of June 2020, five national multiplexes are available, broadcasting several channels in both SD and HD via DVB-T2, all using the MPEG-4 codec.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Finland launched DTT in 2001, and terminated analogue transmissions nationwide on 1 September 2007. Finland has successfully launched a mixture of pay and free-to-air DTT services. Digita operates the DTT and Mobile Terrestrial networks and rents capacity to broadcasters on its network on a neutral market basis. Digita is owned by TDF (France). The pay-DTT service provider Boxer has acquired a majority stake in the leading Finnish pay DTT operator PlusTV which offers a number of commercial channels for a subscription. It started in October 2006. Boxer already provides pay-DTT services in Sweden and Denmark.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Three nationwide multiplexes are granted to DNA and Anvia for DVB-T2 for High Definition and Standard Definition channel (MPEG4).


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: France's "télévision numérique terrestre" (TNT) offers 26 free national channels and 9 pay channels, plus up to 4 local free channels. An 89% DTT penetration rate is expected by December 2008. Free-to-view satellite services offering the same DTT offer were made available in June 2007.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Since 12 December 2012, TNT has delivered ten free HD channels (TF1 HD, France2 HD, M6 HD, Arte HD, HD1, L'Équipe 21, 6ter, Numéro 23, RMC Découverte HD, Chérie 25) and one pay TNT HD channel (Canal+ HD) using the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression format. French consumer technology magazine "Les Numériques" gave the picture quality of TNT's previous 1440x1080i service a score of 8/10, compared to 10/10 for Blu-ray 1080p.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Prime Minister François Fillon confirmed that the final analogue switch-off date would be 30 November 2011. DTT coverage had to reach 91% of a given "" before analogue transmissions could be switched off. CSA announced a call to tender for more local DTT licences on 15 June 2009 and 66 new DTT sites went up since May 2009 to expand coverage to cover low population areas.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Freesat began broadcasts from the Eutelsat Atlantic Bird 3 satellite from June 2009 as Fransat, providing for those unable to receive DTT signals for terrain reasons in preparation for ASO in 2011. Eighteen channels were broadcast initially and although free to watch, viewers needed to buy a set top box with smart card for €99 according to DVB.org article.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The end dates of analogue shutdown were: 2 February 2010: Alsace, 9 March 2010: Lower Normandy, 18 May 2010: Pays de la Loire, 8 June 2010: Bretagne, 28 September 2010: Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne, 19 October 2010: Poitou-Charentes and the middle of the country, November 2010: Franche-Comté and Bourgogne, 7 December 2010: North of the country, First quarter 2011: Picardie and Haute-Normandie, Île-de-France, Aquitaine and Limousin, Auvergne, Côte d'Azur and Corsica, Rhône, Second quarter 2011 (before 30 November): Provence, Alpes, Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Germany launched a free-to-air platform region-by-region, starting in Berlin in November 2002. The analogue broadcasts were planned to cease soon after digital transmissions are started. Berlin became completely digital on 4 August 2003 with other regions completing between then and 2008. Digital switchover has been completed throughout Germany as of 2 December 2008 and services are now available to 100% of the population following the update of infill for the remaining 10% of transmitters by Media Broadcast who set up broadcast antennas at 79 transmission sites and installed 283 new transmitter stations. More services are to be launched on DTT and some pay DTT channels are or have been launched in various areas such as Stuttgart and soon Leipzig.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Experimental DTT broadcast has started in December 2008. The program of Duna Televízió was broadcast during the trials. Originally analog television was planned to be shut down on 1 January 2012, but this deadline was first pushed out to 2014 then brought forward to 2013. Analogue broadcast was terminated at 12:30pm, on 31 July 2013 in the central part of Hungary, and October 2013 in the rest of the country. M1, M2, Duna TV, Duna World, RTL Klub, TV2 and Euronews are available as free-view. M1, M2 and Duna TV are also available in HD.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On both of the 2013 shutoff dates, all analog channels ceased normal programming at 12:30pm and showed a silent ASO information screen that has a phone number to call for help. It was kept on for a few days, after which the analog transmitters are permanently shut down.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Ireland DTT has been somewhat problematic. Responsibility for DTT, based on plans of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, was divided between two government Departments with differing views on its running. This delayed the project, took away its momentum and the economic situation deteriorated so that the opportunity to launch in good conditions was lost. When legislation finally arrived after two years to enable DTT to proceed, a private sector model was envisaged similar to the UK. A company trading as "It's TV" was the sole applicant for a digital terrestrial television license under the provisions of the Irish Broadcasting Act 2001. The "It's TV" proposed a triple play deployment with Broadband, TV and Digital Radio services, but the on air return channel (DVB-RCT system) for "interactive" use while 10s of Mbps per mast, would per user only have been 300 to 2400bit/s at peak times, they never got approval to run an Internet service. RTÉ was to have a minority stake in its network and sell its majority share. However legislative delays and economic changes made it financially difficult for RTÉ to get a good price for the network stake. "It's TV" plans raise the necessary funding failed due to the lack of approval for Internet aspect and infeasible Internet access model. Other DTT deployments in operation around that time also went bust, most particularly in the UK, Spain and Portugal. "It's TV" failed to get its license conditions varied or to get a time extension for securing funding. Its license was either never awarded (as they could not demonstrate a viable business plan & funding) or was eventually withdrawn for non-performance.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Under subsequent legislation in May 2007, RTÉ, the spectrum regulator (ComReg) and the broadcasting regulator BCI (now BAI), were mandated to invite applications during 2008 under the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act 2007. RTÉ and the BCI received licenses from ComReg for spectrum to establish DTT. The BAI advertised and invited multiplex submissions by 2 May 2008. RTÉ Networks was required to broadcast in digital terrestrial TV (aerial TV) and received an automatic license through the RTÉ Authority. It expanded and upgraded its transmission network to digital terrestrial during 2009 which culminated in 98% coverage by 31 December 2011 with analog switchover beginning in Summer 2012 in concert with Northern Ireland, under the MOU signed with the UK and Irish Governments.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: It also planned on making this network available to the commercial multiplex winner for rental of capacity once negotiations had concluded, rental agreed and a security bond received. It was testing the BAI multiplexes from November 2009 across the network, which is publicly receivable with the correct DTT receivers. 1 Mux (a group of broadcast channels) would have provided the services of the public service broadcaster and have had 98% population coverage by 31 December 2011. The other three multiplexes would have had between 90% and 92% population coverage. Following Analogue Switchover one additional PSB mux and one or more commercial muxes was made available for DTT, mobile television, broadband and other services.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The BCI (now BAI) received three conditional applications to operate the three muxes which were presented to the public on 12 May 2008. It decided in principle to allocate the license to Boxer DTT Ltd, a consortium made up of the Swedish pay-DTT operator Boxer and the media group Communicorp at its board meeting on 21 July 2008.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 20 April 2009, the BCI revealed that Boxer had withdrawn their license, and it was instead given to the runner-up applicant OneVision. At the end of April 2010 the negotiations with Onevision ended and they also decided to return the license. On 29 April 2010 the contract was offered to the only remaining applicant, Easy TV. The Easy TV consortium informed the BAI on 12 May 2010 that it was declining their offer to pursue negotiations regarding the Commercial DTT Multiplex Licence.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: A Houses of the Oireachtas Channel (reportedly shelved in December 2008) and the Irish Film Channel (whose status is unclear though a company was formed to provide the channel) were enabled for establishment as public service broadcasters on Irish DTT.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland replaced the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the RTÉ Authority. The BAI includes Awards and Advisory Committees under statutory instrument 389 that gave effect to the provisions of the Broadcasting Act 2009. This legislation dissolved the BCI, vesting it and new responsibilities, assets and liabilities in a new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on 1 October 2009. This Act also dealt with analogue switchover.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: A DTT Information Campaign was announced by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, to launch in March 2009 ahead of the September 2009 launch of Irish DTT. The Information Campaign was undertaken by the BAI, with support of the department.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 30 October 2010 FTA DTT, which is known as Saorview, was launched following a direction from the Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources, to RTÉ and the signing of the "RTÉ (National Television Multiplex) Order 2010 (S.I. No. 85 of 2010)" on 26 February 2010. The rollout of FTA Saorview DTT then proceeded, and a commercial DTT competition was deferred.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 1 July 2010 RTÉ announced that Mary Curtis, RTÉ's deputy head of TV programming, would take on the role of Director of Digital Switchover (DSO).


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 14 October 2011, Minister Rabbitte announced that analogue terrestrial television broadcast would be switched off on 24 October 2012. This date was chosen in consultation with the UK on its Northern Ireland analogue switchover date so that both jurisdictions on the island would switch over at roughly the same time. This was done to make it straightforward for citizens on both sides of the border., referring citizens to both Saorview's website and the Department's Digital Switchover Website


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 24 October 2012 all analogue television transmission in Ireland ended, leaving Saorview as the primary source of broadcast television in Ireland.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The switch-off of the analogue terrestrial network progressed region–by–region. It started on Wednesday 15 October 2008, and was completed on Wednesday 4 July 2012.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The selected broadcasting standard is DVB-T with MPEG2 video for SD and H.264 video for HD, audio is usually MPEG1. The whole frequency spectrum has been allocated with SFN in mind.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Along the original analog free to air channels that switched to digital, a few new pay per view platforms came around with the advent of DTT.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Worth mentioning is the addition of an experimental free to air HD 1080i channel from RAI which is set to broadcast important sport events like the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Luxembourg launched DTT services in April 2006. The national service launched in June 2006. On 1 September 2006, Luxembourg became the first European country to transition completely to DTT. Luxe TV, a niche theme based station, soon began broadcasting on the Luxembourg DTT platform, transmitted from the Dudelange transmitter. The aim was to reach audiences in some parts of Germany as well as in Luxembourg.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The Netherlands launched its DTT service 23 April 2003, and terminated analogue transmissions nationwide on 11 December 2006. KPN owns Digitenne which provides a mix of FTA public channels and paid DTT services. KPN started to switch its digital terrestrial television platform Digitenne to the DVB-T2 HEVC standard in October 2018, this transition completed on 9 July 2019.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: DTT launch in Poland was scheduled for Autumn 2009. Regulatory disagreements delayed its tender and approach until resolved and the multiplexes available for DTT were reduced to 3 and the 2nd was licensed in the Autumn of 2009. The reduction from 5 to 3 enabled mobile TV and broadband to get more spectrum allocation. Muxes 2 and 3 therefore had limited coverage until ASO. Polsat, TVN, TV4 and TV Puls have officially applied to reserve space on the countries first multiplex set to start in September. Wirtualne Media is given as the source of the story. The public broadcaster's three main channels TVP1, TVP2 and TVP Info had already been allocated capacity on the multiplex.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Poland ended its television broadcast in analogue on 23 July 2013. A mobile TV license has also been awarded in Poland to Info TV FM to use DVB-H standard.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Portugal launched its DTT service on 29 April 2009, available to around 20% of the Portuguese population and Portugal Telecom expected to reach 80% of the population by the end of the 2009. Airplus TV Portugal that was set up to compete for a licence to manage Portugal's pay-TV DTT multiplexes, dissolved as it did not get the license and a Portuguese court ruled not to suspend the process for the awarding of a licence to Portugal Telecom, based on a complaint submitted by Airplus TV Portugal. After Airplus TV Portugal was dissolved, Portugal Telecom informed that will not honour the pay-TV DTT multiplexes licence obligations. ANACOM, the Portuguese communications authority, accepted. Portugal thus has only one active multiplexer.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Romania, broadcasting regulations have been amended so that DTT service providers have only a single licence rather than the two previously required by the National Audiovisual Council (CNA). DTT services were launched in December 2009 using the MPEG-4 (H.264 AVC) compression format following the Ministry of Communications publication of a strategic plan for the transition to digital broadcasting. According to Media Express, it envisaged a maximum of five national UHF multiplexes, a national VHF multiplex and a multiplex allocated to regional and local services, all in accordance with the ITU Geneva Conference RRC-06 reports BroadbandTVNews.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The Ministry of Communications (MCSI) estimated that 49% of Romania's 7.5 million households got TV from cable and 27% from DTH services in Romania while terrestrial TV was used by 18% of the TV households. 6% are reported as not able to receive TV transmissions. Subsidies were offered for those below a certain income to assist switchover for them. Switchover was scheduled for January 2012.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Romkatel, the local representative of Kathrein, have since been awarded the commercial Romanian DTT services license. ZF reported that Romkatel has signed a 12-month contract worth €710,420, having beaten off a challenge from France's TDF. The tender was organised by Romania's National Society for Radiocommunications (SNR).


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Meanwhile, the National Audiovisual Council, in charge of the public service broadcasting sector has awarded digital licences to the public channels TVR1 and TVR2.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: According to Media Express, this followed a short debate at the National Audiovisual Council (CNA) about whether to also award licences to the nine remaining public channels, one of which transmits in HD and five are regional.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The National Authority in Communications (ANCOM), will most probably award the transmission network contract for this to the national transmission company Radiocommunicatii.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In June 2013, the Romanian Government issued a Strategy to shift from analogue terrestrial to digital terrestrial that pushes ahead the until the date stopped process. According to the Strategy one of the five planned digital terrestrial multiplexes will be de facto granted to Radiocom, the state company involved in terrestrial carrying the public television signals, way before a selection for the muxes operators will be organized by ANCOM, selection with the deadline of 17 June 2015. Government is describing the Radiocom multiplex with the terms "pilot project" and "experiment". The minimum technical requirements for this project are: broadcast standard DVB-T2, ensuring the coverage of up to 40% of the population until 1 July 2014, and 70% of the population up to 17 June 2015, and the possibility of using the broadcasting premises that belongs to Radiocom.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 17 June 2015, Romania shut down analog broadcasting, and started broadcasting with DVB-T2 technology, but with very low coverage, and a very reduced number of broadcasts available. Because of low coverage, Romania stopped broadcasting TVR 1 in analog format on VHF on 31 December 2015. However, since the analog shut down, many people who were receiving TV on terrestrial changed to a cable or DTH provider. On December 31st, 2016, Romania has successfully switched to DVB-T2. After 2016, the channels received on DVB-T2 continued getting lower and lower after people switched to cable or satellite since DVB-T was delayed a lot of times before. Kanal D left terrestrial platform on 2 July 2015, and Antena 3 as well. Only Antena 1 was the only Antena Group channel to be available in terrestrial but only until around 2010. However, people still use terrestrial TV for foreign channels. Although many TV sellers are marking their TV as being compatible with digital terrestrial television in Romania, by highlighting this feature with a sticker on the TV, buyers are mainly interested if the TV has DVB-C or DVB-C, however TV sets without DVB-T2 continue to be sold with only DVB-T/C and sometimes S2, as cable and satellite compatibility presents most of interest.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of 2022, only TVR channels still broadcast in DVB-T, as every other channel in Romania has switched to DVB-C or DVB-S.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Spain most multiplexes closed after the failure of Quiero TV, the country's original pay DTT platform. DTT was relaunched on 30 November 2005, with 20 free-to-air national TV services as well as numerous regional and local services. Nearly 11 million DTT receivers had been sold as of July 2008. Positive approval for pay DTT services have reportedly been given by Spain's Ministry of Industry in a surprise move on 17 June of the Advisory Council on Telecommunications and the Information Society (Catsi). IT will now be included in a Royal Decree. A number of leading Spanish media players including Sogecable, Telefónica, Ono, Orange and Vodafone have apparently criticised that as according to Prisa, Sogecable's owner, "it caps a series of policy changes that benefits only a few audiovisual operators, those of terrestrial TV, to the detriment of satellite operators, cable and DSL." There may be appeals lodged against the government's decision.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Sweden, DTT was launched in 1999 solely as a paid service. As of 2007, there are 38 channels in 5 MUXs. 11 of those are free-to-air channels from a number of different broadcasters. Switch-off of the analogue TV service started on 19 September 2005 and finished on 29 October 2007. Boxer began the deployment of MPEG-4 receivers to new subscribers. Over the next six years from 2008 Sweden will gradually migrate from MPEG-2 visual coding to using MPEG-4, H.264.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The Swedish Radio and TV Authority (RTVV) recently announced eight new national channels that will broadcast in the MPEG-4 format.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: From 1 April 2008 Boxer is also responsible for approving devices to use on the network, will no longer accept MPEG-2 receivers for test and approval. Set Top Boxes must be backward compatible so that they can decode both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 coded transmissions.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Switzerland introduced DTT in 2007. Switzerland later become the first country to eliminate broadcast terrestrial television entirely when public broadcaster SRG SSR, which runs the country's only terrestrial channels, shut down its DVB-T transmitter network in June 2019. SRG SSR estimated that less than two per cent of households relied on its DVB-T network, the large majority of which used it only for reception on secondary devices, making continued operation not economically viable. Its programing will remain on IPTV services, cable, and free-to-air satellite. SRG SSR recommended consumers to switch to satellite. As the satellite signals are free but encrypted to restrict reception to Swiss residents, there is now one privately owned DVB-T transmitter on Hoher Kasten in Appenzell to feed the channels of SRF to cable systems in Vorarlberg, Austria.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: DTT was successfully launched in November 2009. It uses MPEG-2 for 4K UHD and MPEG-4 for HD. The service was launched by ONE, and the platform is called BoomTV. It offers 42 channels including all national networks and it is available to 95% of the population.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Russia, digital television appeared in the summer of 2009. The first multiplex consisted of the following channels: "Channel One Russia", "Russia-1", "Russia-2" (now "Match-TV"), "NTV", "Petersburg 5th channel", "Russia-Culture", "Russia-24", "Bibigon" (later - "Carousel"). In the spring of 2013, two more channels were added to the first multiplex: "OTR" and "TV-Center".


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 14 December 2012, a second DTV multiplex begun airing. REN TV, TV Center (from 2013 - Spas), STS, Domashniy, Sport (from 2013 - TV-3), NTV Plus Sport Plus (from 2015 onwards - Pyatnica!), Zvezda, Mir, TNT and Muz-TV were in that multiplex.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In 2014, the third and fourth multiplex appeared in the Crimea. They were created after the annexation of Crimea into Russia.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 15 January 2015, a third multiplex went live in Moscow and the Moscow region, broadcasting some satellite-only channels (for example, on 22 channel 2х2 at 12am and in the 11:59am, My planet (Moya Planeta) in the noon-6pm, and in the 6pm-12am - Science 2.0 (Nauka 2.0) )


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 30 November 2018, the Ministry of digital development, communications and mass communications of the Russian Federation proposed turning off analog broadcasting in four stages (on 11 February, 15 April, 3 June and 14 October)


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 3 December 2018, first region completed its switch from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 14 October 2019, Russia has entirely switched from analog television to digital television. Some channels are still being aired as analog TV. (Namely, "Che")


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 22 October 2020, aired channel list on the second multiplex was changed. Channels aired in the multiplex now are "Che", "STS Love", "STS Kids", "TNT4", "TNT Music", "2x2", "Super", "U", "Channel Disney", and "Match Strana".


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: DTT was trialed in Turkey in 2006 using DVB-T, but the public rollout did not occur, only the analogue transmission was switched off in favour of HD satellite broadcast. In 2011 preparations were made for the introduction of DTT, with channel licenses later allocated. However, in 2014 the allocations were voided by the Supreme Court citing irregularities in awarding the licenses. The uncertainty led to reluctance of broadcasters to invest in a DTT network, particularly with satellite TV having a dominant penetration. The DTT project was revived in 2016 with the construction of a multi-purpose 100 m transmitter in Çanakkale, designed to look like a ribbon. Test broadcasts commenced with the opening of Küçük Çamlıca TV Radio Tower and Çanakkale TV Tower, before an official DTT launch in 2021.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The United Kingdom (1998), Sweden (1999) and Spain (2000) were the first to launch DTT with platforms heavily reliant on pay television. All platforms experienced many starter problems, in particular the British and Spanish platforms which failed financially (mainly due to their encryption being compromised). Nevertheless, Boxer, the Swedish pay platform which started in October 1999, proved to be very successful.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: DTT in the United Kingdom was launched in November 1998 as a primarily subscription service branded as ONdigital, a joint venture between Granada Television and Carlton Communications, with only a few channels being available free to air. ONdigital soon ran into financial difficulties with subscriber numbers below expectations, and in order to attempt to reverse their fortunes, it was decided that the ITV and ONdigital brands should align, and the service was rebranded ITV Digital in 2001. Despite an expensive advertising campaign, ITV Digital struggled to attract sufficient new subscribers and in 2002 closed the service. After commercial failure of the Pay TV proposition it was relaunched as the free-to-air Freeview platform in 2002. Top Up TV, a "lite" pay DTT service, became available in 2004 when Inview launched the first DTT (Freeview) EPG service.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 30 March 2005, the older analogue signals began to be phased out on a region-by-region basis (a process known as the Digital switchover, or DSO), beginning with a technical trial at the Ferryside television relay station. The first full transmitter to switch to digital-only transmission was the Whitehaven transmitter in Cumbria, which completed its transition on Wednesday 17 October 2007. The switchover to digital-only broadcasting was completed on 24 October 2012 when the transmitters in Northern Ireland turned off their analogue broadcasts (which coincided with the transition in the Republic of Ireland).


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The additional transmission frequencies freed up by the shutdown of analogue signals have (among other things, such as the introduction of 4G mobile internet) allowed for the creation of a single DVB-T2 multiplex used to carry high-definition programming. There are also plans to use one frequency to launch local television services.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 14 December 2011, national public broadcaster ZNS-TV announced it would be upgrading to ATSC digital television with mobile DTV capabilities, in line with its neighbours, the United States and Puerto Rico.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Bermuda has plans to convert its three broadcast stations to ATSC digital terrestrial television in the future.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Canada, analogue switch-off was mandated by regulatory authorities for all provincial capital cities and all multi-station markets. Analogue would continue in single-station markets and remote areas. With an exception, analogue switch-off in the mandated areas took place on 31 August 2011. The CBC was granted an exception in many smaller multi-station markets, due to the cost of conversion, otherwise the CBC services would have gone dark in many such markets. Most network stations are already broadcasting high-definition digital signals in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, and Vancouver. Most networks had been concerned about the August 2011 deadline as not all parts of the country were equipped to receive DTTV by the scheduled date.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Mexico, the digital transition is completed. Digital signals are available in all cities, thus providing national coverage. Analog transmission were turned off based on population size. Tijuana was the first city to turn off analog signals and the nationwide turn off was completed on 31 December 2015. On 27 October 2016, Mexico relocated all of its channels. This made Azteca 13 (now Azteca Uno) on virtual channel 1.1 nationwide, Canal de Las Estrellas (now Las Estrellas) on virtual channel 2.1 and Imagen Television on virtual channel 3.1. Border cities were not affected due signal issues across the United States. For example, in the Tijuana-San Diego area, channel 2.1's signal comes from KCBS-TV, a CBS owned-and-operated station in Los Angeles, and can affect television users in portions of San Diego County. Thus, Las Estrellas is on virtual channel 19.1.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In the United States on 12 June 2009, all full-power U.S. television broadcasts became exclusively digital, under the Digital Television and Public Safety Act of 2005. Furthermore, since 1 March 2007, new television sets that receive signals over the air, including pocket-sized portable televisions, include ATSC digital tuners for digital broadcasts. Prior to 12 June 2009, most U.S. broadcasters were transmitting in both analog and digital formats; a few were digital only. Most U.S. stations were not permitted to shut down their analog transmissions prior to 16 February 2009 unless doing so was required in order to complete work on a station's permanent digital facilities. In 2009, the FCC finished auctioning channels 52–59 (the lower half of the 700 MHz band) for other communications services, completing the reallocation of broadcast channels 52–69 that began in the late 1990s.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The analog switch-off rendered all non-digital television sets unable to receive most over-the-air television channels without an external setbox receiver; however, low-power television stations and cable TV systems were not required to convert to digital until 1 September 2015. Beginning 1 January 2008, consumers could request coupons to help cover most of the cost of these converters by calling a toll-free number or via a website. Some television stations had also been licensed to operate "nightlights", analog signals which consisted only of a brief repeated announcement advising remaining analog viewers how to switch to digital reception.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Costa Rica chose Japanese-Brazilian standard ISDB-T as 7th country on 25 May 2010, and started trial transmissions by Channel 13 from Irazú Volcano on 19 March 2012


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Cuba announced on 19 March 2013 that it is "prepared" to perform a digital television test using the Chinese DTMB system.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: El Salvador has chosen the Japanese / Brazilian standard ISDB-Tb in 2017. The Digital Switchover began on 21 December 2018, and by 2022 it will be completed.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Argentine President Cristina Fernández signed on 28 August 2009 an agreement to adopt the ISDB-Tb system, joining Brazil, which has already implemented the standard in its big cities. On air service started from 28 April 2010.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 5 July 2010 the Bolivian chancellor signed an agreement with the Japanese ambassador to Bolivia, choosing the Japanese system with the Brazilian modifications ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial).


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Brazil, the government chose a modified version of the Japanese ISDB-T standard, called ISDB-Tb (or SBTVD) in June 2006. Digital broadcasts started on 2 December 2007 in São Paulo and now it is under expansion all over the country. As of 15 September 2009, metro areas of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Goiânia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Campinas, Vitória, Florianópolis, Uberlândia, São José do Rio Preto, Teresina, Santos, Campo Grande, Fortaleza, Recife, João Pessoa, Sorocaba, Manaus, Belém, Aracaju, Ribeirão Preto, Boa Vista, Macapá, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, São Carlos, São José do Rio Preto, São Luís, Pirassununga, São José dos Campos, Taubaté, Ituiutaba, Araraquara, Feira de Santana, Itapetininga, Sorocaba, Presidente Prudente, Bauru, Campos dos Goytacazes, Londrina, Juiz de Fora, Campina Grande, Caxias do Sul, Franca, Rio Claro and Cuiabá have digital terrestrial broadcasting. By 2013 the digital signal was available in the whole country. Analogue shutdown is scheduled for 2023.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 14 September 2009, president Michelle Bachelet announced that the government had finally decided on a digital television standard. Chile adopted the ISDB-T Japanese standard (with the custom modifications made by Brazil). Simulcasting began in 2010, with a projected analog switch-off in 2017.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Colombia has chosen the European DVB-T standard on 28 August 2008. However, in 2012, Colombia adopted DVB-T2 as the national standard for terrestrial television, replacing DVB-T, the previously selected standard for digital TV.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 28 December 2010, private networks Caracol TV and RCN TV officially started digital broadcasts for Bogotá, Medellín and surrounding areas on channels 14 and 15 UHF, respectively. State-run Señal Colombia and Canal Institucional had started test digital broadcasts earlier in 2010.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The current coverage of DVB-T2 can be consulted on the website of the organization "Tdt para Todos" which is the entity responsible for facilitating its adoption.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 23 April 2009, Peru chose the Brazilian variant of the Japanese digital television standard ISDB-T. The Peruvian government signed an agreement with its Japanese counterpart in order for the latter to fund the implementation of the DTT platform in the country. The first network to be launched on digital terrestrial television was TV Perú on 30 March 2010, using the ISDB-Tb standard. Currently, all the major stations in Lima are broadcasting on DTT in high-definition. ATV was the first television channel in the country to do digital test broadcasts on June 19, 2007, using either ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T in order to see which of them was better. Eventually, ATV chose ISDB-Tb, officially started broadcasting in HD; its first live TV show to be aired in high-definition was Magaly TV on 30 August 2010. Frecuencia Latina also began broadcasting on DTT on 14 September 2010 with a match of the Peru women's national volleyball team in the 2010 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship. Shortly after these events, América Televisión started broadcasting on DTT.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Suriname is currently transitioning from analogue NTSC broadcasts to digital ATSC and DVB-T broadcasts. Channel ATV started with ATSC broadcasts in the Paramaribo area in June 2014, which was followed by ATSC broadcasts from stations in Brokopondo, Wageningen and Albina. The stations in Brokopondo, Wageningen and Albina broadcast both the channels of ATV (i.e. ATV and TV2) and STVS, while the station in Paramaribo currently only broadcasts the ATV channels. The Telecommunication Authority of Suriname was originally aiming at a full digital transition by June 2015, but this was criticized by broadcasters as being unfeasible. However, the ITU has documented both DVB-T and ATSC are in use].


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: Uruguay chose the European DVB-T standard in August 2007, however disproved it and decided to adopt ISDB-T on 27 December 2010 to follow neighbouring countries.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In Venezuela, tests are being performed with full deployment to start 2008–2009. DTT will coexist with analogue standard television for some time, until full deployment of the system on a nationwide level is accomplished. 30 September 2009, decided to employ Japanese ISDB-T system under cooperation with Japan, and officially be agreed with Japan in early October 2009.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: On 6 October 2009, Venezuela has officially adopted ISDB-T with Brazilian modifications. Transition from analog to digital is expected to take place in the next 10 years.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In March 2012, Venezuela signed a $50M agreement to purchase 300,000 decoders from Argentina to implement TDT in Caracas and later this year in some of the most important cities, but only in the Government controlled TV Stations. NTSC and TDT will coexist. The Government hopes to reach TDT the whole country's population in 2 years.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of 2019, due to the Venezuelan crisis, the digital television transition is paralysed and DTT development has been frozen.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The majority of countries in Africa have adopted the DVB-T2 standard, including Algeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: In March 2015 Inview Technology (a UK digital switch-off company based in Cheshire and with local operations in Nigeria) was appointed by Nigeria's government run National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to enable digital switchover from analogue throughout the country and provide a Conditional Access System, set-top box software and services including full EPG, Push Video-On-Demand, a range of broadcasting applications such as news, public service information and audience measurement services over the digital terrestrial and satellite networks in Nigeria.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: FreeTV will carry up to 30 free channels: the best of Nigeria TV and international channels across news, movies, kids, music and general entertainment "genres".


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: A national standard set top box specification has been set which incorporates a common operating system created by Inview. All boxes will require this specification to view the channels and access value added services such as interactive news, programme recording, internet applications and video on demand.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: As of March 2016, FreeTV is being operated by Inview and is an open platform which enables any content or pay TV provider to broadcast their content so that Nigerian consumers only have to buy one box to view all the content. Only manufacturers licensed in Nigeria will receive the Inview operating system required to access the channels and services, which will protect domestic manufacturers and consumers from illegal grey imports.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: To follow the transition from analog to digital in the field of terrestrial television broadcasting, and to keep pace with these technological international innovations, Tunisia through the Office of National Broadcasting has planned the following phases to digitize its terrestrial broadcasting networks:


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: First phase: Deployment, since 2001, of an experimental digital TV broadcasting unit using DVB-T system, and MPEG-2 compression, implemented in Boukornine site, to insure the coverage of Great Tunis (25% of population). This experimental project highlighted the benefits of digitization which are : -Better quality of Video and audio signals, -Increasing the capacity of distribution networks through the transmission of a digital TV package (bouquet): a layer of digital distribution network enables the transmission of 4 to 6 programs TV instead of a single TV program in the case of an analog network -The economics of radio spectrum and the energy consumption. -Introduction of new multimedia services. In preparatory phase, ONT has prepared the frequency plan for digital terrestrial TV networks of and has signed the final acts of the Regional Radio Communication Conference 2006 in Geneva organized by the International Telecommunication Union, which recommends to switch off analog broadcasting services around 2015 and their replacement by digital broadcasting systems.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: 1- First part: Digitization of the transmission network between production studios and different broadcasting stations. The network consists of 41 transmission stations spread throughout the country. This step represents the first part of the Digital Terrestrial TV network, and its deployment is completed during the period 2008–2009. The cost of this project is 27 million dinars TTC.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: 2- Second part: National digital terrestrial TV broadcasting Network to viewers, which consists of 17 DTTV stations spread throughout the country and will be conducted under a contract including a vendor financing agreement with the Thomson Grass Valley (France) company. The project came into force in August 2009 and will be conducted during 2009–2010. Its cost is 13 million dinars TTC.


title: Digital terrestrial television

text: The broadcasting of digital terrestrial transmissions has led to many countries planning to phase out existing analogue broadcasts. This table shows the launches of DTT and the closing down of analogue television in several countries.


title: Sunaina

text: Sunaina is an Indian actress and model. She predominantly works in Tamil movies as well as few Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her film debut with Telugu film "Kumar Vs Kumari" (2005) and her Tamil debut "Kadhalil Vizhunthen" (2008).


title: Sunaina

text: Sunainaa's start to fame was by starring with Nakul in "Kadhalil Vizhunthen" (2008) which was her first Tamil début. Prior to that, she shot for a short scene in "Sivaji" (2007), which did not make the final cut. She later starred in "Maasilamani" (2009), Vamsam (2010) in which she appeared as a beautiful village girl and did very well, and continued with a performance oriented films where she secured her first Filmfare nomination for "Neerparavai" (2012),in which she played Esther. Her performance was critically praised and she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil.


title: Sunaina

text: After that she appeared in films like "Samar" (2013), "Vanmam" (2014) and also gave a guest appearance opposite to Vijay in "Theri" (2016). She then appeared in "Nambiyaar" (2016), "Kavalai Vendam" (2016), "Thondan" (2017). In 2018, she acted in the drama film "Kaali" starring Vijay Antony and Anjali. Next, the romantic thriller vampires web series Viu original in "Nila Nila Odi Vaa" from 24 July to 5 September 2018 .


title: Tyche

text: Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη "Túkhē", 'Luck', , ; Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Aphrodite and Zeus or Hermes, and at this time served to bring positive messages to people, relating to external events outside their control.


title: Tyche

text: During the Hellenistic period, with dramatic socio-political changes starting with Alexander the Great, Tyche increasingly embodied the whims of fate (both negative and positive), eclipsing the role of the Olympic gods. The Greek historian Polybius believed that when no cause can be discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts, or even in politics, then the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche. Other ancient Greek sources corroborate Polybius, such as Pindar who claims Tyche could hand victory to a lesser athlete. This "Hellenistic Tyche" is often featured on coins such as those minted by Demetrius I Soter. Further, Tyche comes to represent not only personal fate, but the fate of communities. Cities venerated their own Tychai, specific iconic versions of the original Tyche. This practice was continued in the iconography of Roman art, even into the Christian period, often as sets of the greatest cities of the empire.


title: Tyche

text: Tyche was further absorbed into the Parthian Empire, who frequently depicted Tyche in their coins, as well as in imagery bestowing legitimacy to Parthian kings.


title: Tyche

text: In literature, Tyche might be given various genealogies, as a daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite, or considered one of the Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, and Tethys, or of Zeus. She was connected with Nemesis and Agathos Daimon ("good spirit").


title: Tyche

text: She is sometimes named as the mother of Plutus, the god of wealth; usually, however, he is the son of Demeter and Iasion.


title: Tyche

text: According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Palamedes created the first pair of dice and gave them as an offering to Tyche.


title: Tyche

text: Tyche was uniquely venerated at Itanos in Crete, as "Tyche Protogeneia", linked with the Athenian Protogeneia ("firstborn"), daughter of Erechtheus, whose self-sacrifice saved the city. In Alexandria the "Tychaeon", the Greek temple of Tyche, was described by Libanius as one of the most magnificent of the entire Hellenistic world.


title: Tyche

text: Stylianos Spyridacis concisely expressed Tyche's appeal in a Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: "In the turbulent years of the Epigoni of Alexander, an awareness of the instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the vicissitudes of the time."


title: Tyche

text: According to Matheson, the Goddess Tyche was often worshipped as the personification of a city and its fortune. Matheson also states that there were cults to Tyche all over the Mediterranean. In Athens for instance, citizens would give tribute to "Agathe Tyche" alongside other gods. Other gods seem to also be presented alongside Tyche including Dionysus at Corinth.


title: Tyche

text: There was a Temple of Tyche that contained a figure called Nemesis-Tyche, an aspect of Tyche. According to Edwards Nemesis and Tyche begin to share cults in the Roman period.


title: Tyche

text: The mural crown of Tyche of Sparta depicts the Spartans soldiers repelling Amazons. Palagia argues that this depiction is important to Spartan mythology.


title: Tyche

text: Tyche appears on many coins of the Hellenistic period in the three centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean. Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines of Hellenistic romances, such as, "Leucippe and Clitophon" or "Daphnis and Chloe". She experienced a resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly sanctioned Paganism, between the late-fourth-century emperors Julian and Theodosius I, who definitively closed the temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability in philosophical circles during that generation, although among poets it was a commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot.


title: Tyche

text: The constellation of Virgo is sometimes identified as the heavenly figure of Tyche, as well as other goddesses such as Demeter and Astraea.


title: Tyche

text: In Greco-Roman and medieval art Tyche was depicted as wearing a mural crown, and carrying a cornucopia (horn of plenty), an emblematic gubernaculum (ship's rudder), and the wheel of fortune, or she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate.


title: Tyche

text: The mural crown's significance is that it identifies her as the goddess of the city, and in the case of Sparta her mural crown depicted a part of their foundation myth of their city. The mural crown is often used by archeologists and historians to identify a figure in art as Tyche.


title: Tyche

text: According to Matheson the Goddess Tyche, being one of the Oceanids, is considered to be an ocean goddess of some kind. Citing how Pindar refers to her in his poems, "he implores her to keep watch around Himera, a port" and how she is often depicted holding a ship's rudder.


title: Tyche

text: The play writer Euripides used Tyche as a literary device and personification. Apollo is said to direct Tyche and even the god's plans can be influenced by the concept of Tyche.


title: Tyche

text: The poet Pindar alludes to Tyche as a goddess of fate who can control the outcome of athletic contests, according to Giannopoulou.


title: Tyche

text: In late Roman sets the figures, usually four, represented the Tychai of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and either Antioch (more usual, as in the Esquiline Treasure of about 380 AD) or Trier, as in the Calendar of 354. The Tychai may be seen wearing a mural crown (a crown like the walls of the city).


title: Tyche

text: The Tyche of Rome was represented "in military costume" according to Amin. In Rome and the other parts of the Western Roman Empire she was referred to as Fortuna.


title: Tyche

text: Amin mentions that the attributes of the Tyche of Constantinople included a cornucopia. Tyche was still a figure in Constantinople was even depicted on coins and well into early Christian Rome. Matheson argues that the Tyche of Constantinople replaced the one of Antioch as the typical representation.


title: Tyche

text: The Tyche of Alexandria "hold sheaves of corns and rests her foot on the bow of a ship" as described by Amin. This could be related to how other depictions of Tyche, like the one in Sparta, are seen with ships rudders. This is because she can steer events argues Matheson. Also, Pindar describes her power over ships "At thy bidding, swift ships are steered upon the sea.


title: Tyche

text: Several artefacts feature the Tyche of Antioch with a male swimmer personifying the Orontes River at her feet according to Amin. Her importance to the river is also strengthened by her being considered an Oceanid, according to Giannopoulou.


title: Tyche

text: In the early years of the Parthian Empire, Parthian kings, starting with Mithridates I (165 BC) utilized imagery of the Olympian gods in their coinage, often with the term ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ (friend of the Greeks) as a conciliatory gesture to subject Greek people living in the former Seleucid Empire lands. However, by the time of Vologases I (51 AD), the only Greek imagery used on coins was the goddess Tyche, who continued to be represented on Parthian coins for the next 200 years. In later imagery, Tyche provides the Khvarenah or projection of divine rulership in Zoroastrianism to the worthy king. It is unclear whether this "Parthian Tyche" simultaneously represented a Zoroastrian goddess such as Anahita or Ashi, or possibly another.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Nicola Maria Roberts (born 5 October 1985) is a British pop singer. She rose to prominence in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's "". The group's success helped them win the competition and they were later entered in "Guinness World Records" as the most successful reality television music-group. They enjoyed 20 consecutive top-ten singles, spawning five albums and positive critical responses.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In 2008, after releasing the pale skin make-up collection "Dainty Doll", Roberts advocated, in the documentary "Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning", a ban on underage usage of tanning beds. Her public stance with a British MP led to a bill which banned under-18s from using tanning beds. In 2011, Roberts released her debut solo album, "Cinderella's Eyes," which peaked at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart, and respectively produced the successful single "Beat of My Drum". Two follow-up singles, "Lucky Day" and "Yo-Yo", both gained equally positive critical responses but were not huge hits. In February 2020, Roberts won the first series of ITV's "The Masked Singer UK", masked as Queen Bee and in 2021, Roberts returned in the final of the second series as a guest judge. She later returned in the third series final in 2022 to perform a duet masked as Queen Bee with Markus Feehily masked as Robobunny.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Roberts was born on 5 October 1985 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, when her mother was 17. At the time of her birth, her father was working for the RAF and the resulting pay led to financial struggles which saw her father move to work for the Ford Motor Company whilst her mother became a photographer to help the family monetary problems. Roberts grew up in Runcorn, Cheshire.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: She attended St Chad's High School. In school Roberts found herself shying away, in contrast to her home life where she was outgoing, even gaining the nickname 'Cilla' (after singer Cilla Black) from her family. Academically, Roberts performed well, leaving with nine GCSEs, but she declared her dislike of school and began discussing a musical career which led her to work with several girl groups recording demo tracks in several cases. Roberts acknowledged she had always wanted to be a singer and had been entering competitions and auditions with her father accompanying her and gaining support from other family members also. In an interview with "Closer" magazine, Roberts spoke about how she began her musical career at a local disco, as part of a girl band called The 5 Musketeers.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Still a teenager, Roberts auditioned for the reality television series "". Participants checked into a hotel in Kensington, London, before performing to a panel of celebrity judges; Roberts found that, up to that point, she "didn't really have much life experience". During the auditions she coincidentally sat next to Kimberley Walsh, who was to complete the competition to become one of five in the final line-up of the girl group; the two spent time rehearsing before their solo audition. Roberts felt confident before the audition, but during the actual audition she was "terrified" and was unable to smile until celebrity judge Geri Halliwell complimented her performance stating "I think you're great, you're an individual, you really stand out". Roberts found her clothing and personality were different from those of the other participants in "Popstars: The Rivals"; most were well-trained vocalists and were well-dressed, while her clothing was less fashionable, due to lack of funds, and she was not as vocally well-trained as the others.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Having progressed in the competition, Roberts was left as one of 15 remaining participants but found that the reality show was becoming increasingly based on personality instead of vocals. She found her personality to be more concealed than others', but was "confident" with her performances. One notable incident during the competition was when a show-producer expressed to her mother that Roberts would not win, for she was not "outrageous" or as outgoing as others stating that vocals were secondary. This left her mother shocked by the politics of the show. After the final ten participants were selected Roberts was eliminated from the competition, but in the following weeks after participant Nicola Ward quit, she was enlisted as a wild-card to return to the show – despite reservations from judge Louis Walsh, who did not back her return. However, he was overruled by judges Geri Halliwell and Pete Waterman. Roberts then made it through to the final where she sang the track "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters. She was the second contestant to be selected for the group, after Cheryl Tweedy. That night the group was formed, and a party involving promotional photographs saw their introduction to manager John McMahon, who would become more of a personal friend for the group.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Roberts described her time on the show "Popstars: The Rivals" and her successes within the show: "Every week before I went on stage I used to go to the toilet, to the same cubicle, and pray, just ask God to please let me have this. Even though I was confident in my singing ability, and I knew I had a stronger voice than most at the time same time I still had a little bit of insecurity because I'd been told Louis didn't want me. I was never in the bottom two, though, and the producers told me I always came in the top two or three in terms of votes each week, which was great."


title: Nicola Roberts

text: After their formation on "Popstars: The Rivals", the group Girls Aloud went on to record their debut single and music video. In addition to that, a large stint of publicity left the group exhausted, since McMahon continually pressured them to promote the single "Sound of the Underground". At this point, the competition with "Popstars: The Rivals" was still ongoing with the two groups; Girls Aloud and One True Voice competing to outsell each other with their debut single releases. Girls Aloud ultimately won the competition with their single topping the UK Singles Chart and gaining a record deal from Polydor Records. In the following days, however, news broke that McMahon had died in a car accident, shortly after texting Roberts, who was too busy to respond. The death of McMahon had a large impact on Roberts, who found herself increasingly emotionally unstable; it came at a time when she moved in with bandmate Cheryl Tweedy, this being the first time she had lived without her family. Thus, at this time Roberts was under great stress; the biggest problem, though, was the constant media criticism of her image, in which critics labelled her "unattractive".


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Girls Aloud as a group enjoyed many successes, including two entries into the "Guinness Book of World Records" for "Most Successful Reality Television Group" and "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a female group". In addition to this, the band gathered five BRIT Award nominations, winning Best British Single in 2009 for "The Promise". The group earned four UK number one singles, twenty consecutive UK top-ten singles and critically they have been well-received with most albums, although Roberts found at times critical opinion was "less than desirable". Their debut album, "Sound of the Underground", peaked at number two in the UK and was certified Platinum. Their second album, "What Will the Neighbours Say?", was certified double Platinum and peaked at number six. The third album, "Chemistry", saw a critical improvement, but failed to enter the UK top ten. The fourth album, "Tangled Up", became another Platinum-certified album, peaking at number four. Finally, their fifth record, "Out of Control", became their first studio album to reach number one in the UK. In 2009, Girls Aloud took a break after embarking on their 2009 Out of Control Tour in support of the "Out of Control" album – which became their most extensive tour – and following this, each member took time to work on solo projects.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In the Girls Aloud 2008 biography Roberts expressed an interest in writing and recording her own material, wanting to experiment in the studio for better understanding of the process. She then started work in the recording studio, with producers such as; Dragonette, Diplo and Joseph Mount. Roberts after a year of recording announced that she would be releasing her debut album, "Cinderella's Eyes". The first single "Beat of My Drum" had an on-sale release meaning it had little promotion beforehand and commercially it peaked at number 27 in the United Kingdom but critically it garnered acclaim from critics which Roberts described as "amazing". A second single "Lucky Day" was released shortly after and whilst gaining positive reviews it failed to make an impact commercially peaking at number 40 in the UK. The album was then released on 23 September 2011, Roberts described the album as "electronically led", and the album was inspired by her time performing with Girls Aloud – "It would have been stupid for me to make an album that meant nothing" she said. For Roberts the album was about making a risky record, where there wasn't a guaranteed commercial success, explaining to "The Guardian": "It's taken every last bit of confidence just to release this record, or maybe I've just brainwashed myself into feeling more confident. I don't know if it's good, or if I've just told myself it's good." The album was released to universal positive reviews from critics, reviewers such as Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the "Financial Times", James Lachno of "The Daily Telegraph", Emily Mackay of "NME", Hugh Montgomery of "The Independent" and others hailed it as the best solo record from a member of Girls Aloud. Commercially in the United Kingdom the album peaked at number 17 whilst on the Digital charts it peaked at number 13, in Scotland it charted at number 21 whilst in Ireland it peaked at number 48. In late 2012, Roberts admitted during a secret show at Carphones Warehouse on Oxford St, to a small pool of journalists, that she was content with and prepared for the potential commercial fallout of releasing an album that was 'unlike anything out there'. On 6 January a third single from the album was released, titled "Yo-Yo" the song was described as a "shining example of her pop sensibilities".


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In January 2012, singer Rihanna chose Roberts to co-host Styled To Rock for Sky Living HD. Roberts was to act as an executive-producer and will search "for the next generation of undiscovered designer talent".


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Nadine Coyle confirmed that Girls Aloud will perform shows around the country at the beginning of 2013 to celebrate their tenth anniversary. On 11 March, Kimberley Walsh announced that Girls Aloud had started work on a new album. Roberts was at the time a judge and mentor on Sky Living series "Styled To Rock" alongside fashion designer Henry Holland and Rihanna. Roberts co-penned "Going Nowhere" for girl group Little Mix's debut album "DNA". In December 2013 she received disc award for her help with writing the album. The award was presented to Roberts for her contribution to Little Mix's first album 'DNA', as it has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: After months of speculation, Girls Aloud's reunion would occur in November 2012. The reunion is said to coincide with their tenth birthday and the release of a charity single for "Children in Need". On 31 August 2012, Cheryl confirmed on BBC Radio 1 and Capital FM that the group's new single will be released in November, teasing the lyrics "I just wanna dance". Girls Aloud reunited for the group's 10th anniversary. On 18 November 2012, the group released their new single, "Something New" which was the official charity single for Children in Need. The single peaked at number-two on the UK Singles Chart. The group released their second greatest hits compilation, "Ten" on 26 November 2012. The second single taken from "Ten", "Beautiful Cause You Love Me" was released on 17 December 2012. A documentary special entitled "10 Years of Girls Aloud" aired on ITV1 on 15 December 2012. In 2013, the group embarked on Ten - The Hits Tour 2013. At the conclusion of the tour, they announced their disbandment.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In October 2011, Roberts stated that she had started work on a second album. On 13 January 2012, Roberts commented on her second album, stating, "Maybe. I'm not sure. There's lots of stuff coming up and I think there always has to be a right time. I'm always working on music and if a second album came out then that would be a great thing to happen." Roberts wrote four songs for friend and former colleague Cheryl's fourth studio album, "Only Human", entitled "It's About Time", "Throwback", "Goodbye Means Hello" and "Yellow Love". On the Girls Aloud's greatest hits album "Ten", she contributed the track "On the Metro". Roberts also wrote two songs for Little Mix's second album "Salute", entitled "See Me Now" and "They Just Don't Know You".


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In January 2014, producer Fred Ball confirmed he was working with Roberts on a new album. She also confirmed that she had written for Cheryl's album "Only Human", which was released later that year. In 2018, Roberts worked with Cheryl again, co-writing the songs "Love Made Me Do It" and "Let You".


title: Nicola Roberts

text: It was announced in December 2019 that Roberts would join the "City of Angels" musical cast, playing the role of Avril/Mallory from March 2020. In 2020, Roberts participated in the ITV series "The Masked Singer" as Queen Bee and eventually won the competition. On 15 August 2020, Nicola performed The Captive's Hymn at a VJ Day concert at Horse Guards Parade in London.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: On 4 June 2022, Roberts performed Climb Ev'ry Mountain with Mica Paris and Ruby Turner at the Platinum Party at the Palace concert to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Despite a large amount of success as part of Girls Aloud, Roberts found time away from her family increasingly difficult; but, after her parents divorced and conflicts with her boyfriend, she found herself in a depressed state. Her hectic schedule led her to dissolve relations with family members and, after stating her frustration at her living situation, she started frequently returning to her home town of Runcorn, Cheshire. Her work life and home life saw her split into two different personalities; despite appreciating a career in the music industry, the conflicts with her personal life made her question her career.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Throughout her music career, Roberts was coping with ; whilst spending time on the road touring, she found it difficult not to eat convenience food. Her was diagnosed after extensive touring in which time Roberts complained of weakness and sickness which made it difficult to perform live concerts. Whilst she performed on Girls Aloud's Tangled Up Tour, Roberts' dog Elvis died just months after he was given as a gift to her. She found his death troubling and struggled to cope as she was on tour at the time.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: A former partner sent Roberts 3,000 messages between 2012 and 2017 over Twitter and Instagram, some of which were described as "violent and threatening" when the case came to court. In May 2017, he admitted to one count of stalking and another to causing annoyance or inconvenience and was given a 15-month suspended sentence and a life-time restraining order not to contact Roberts or members of her family. However, he broke the restraining order within a few months. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) apologised to Roberts in 2018 for failing to prosecute this individual.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: In 2007, Roberts started a limited production of a make-up range called Dainty Doll aimed at the pale-skinned market.


title: Nicola Roberts

text: At the start of her music career Roberts began to note that other girls were dressing more "glamorous" than she did, and at the age of 16 during her auditions for "Popstars: The Rivals", she wished to look like them. At these times she would feel unattractive due to her pale complexion, and soon began using fake tan to darken her skin tone into what she later described as a "dirty mess" but at the time made her feel more attractive. Due to her pale skin tone Roberts found herself easily burning in the sun, which led to chronic pain; during the shoot of the Girls Aloud single "Love Machine" she had trouble filming due to severe burns which left her wanting to visit the hospital. During her time with Girls Aloud she filmed a television special titled "Passions" for which she travelled to Taiwan where she learnt about natural skin products, something she had been interested in due to her pale complexion and led her to develop the make-up line Dainty Doll. Following this Roberts began a stance against tanning, which saw her produce and star in a BBC Three investigative documentary titled "Nicola Roberts: The Truth About Tanning" in which she revealed her own personal tanning issues and those of men and women throughout the UK who have excessively used tanning beds. She met with families of individuals who had died from melanoma, which encouraged Roberts to become an advocate for the banning of underage usage of tanning beds. With the help of Julie Morgan, a member of the National Assembly for Wales, she produced a bill in support of the ban. At the launch of the bill Roberts said "Going into the streets of Liverpool and interviewing the young girls who are obsessed with having a tan and feeling like they had to be brown to be seen as attractive, that whole mentality that they had gathered was just a bigger problem than I ever thought it was."


title: Nicola Roberts

text: After winning "Popstars: The Rivals", becoming one fifth of Girls Aloud, Roberts soon found herself subject to bullying. She was branded "the ugly one" of the group, and would often "cry herself to sleep" finding herself to be a victim of "faceless" bullying fuelled by celebrities such as Chris Moyles and Lily Allen. Soon after the comments had an effect on her mental stability after suffering from an "identity crisis" the taunts brought her close to a breakdown leaving her feeling "miserable and confused" and finding comfort in alcohol. Prior to her fame Roberts never found flaws with her red hair calling it a "prized possession" but after critics picked on her image she saw it as a flaw with Roberts explaining "I hated it and I hated people judging me. I'd put on the telly and there'd be someone saying something cruel, or I'd open up a magazine and read it. Normal people don't have people telling them day to day they're ugly or miserable. [...] I'd think, "stop being so vain, you've got this amazing job" but it wasn't enough. It didn't stop me feeling bad". "People feel they can say nasty things and have anonymity behind the net – as they did with all the nasty comments about me – without fear of recrimination", Roberts said, and five years after the bullying she found herself in a "better place", with critics commenting on her image positively with writers such as Clemmie Moodie from British newspaper "Daily Mirror" saying "the 25-year-old radiates confidence and, with a string of fashion successes has blossomed."


title: Nicola Roberts

text: Roberts then wrote the track "Sticks + Stones" in response to these times, finding herself cautioned by the serious subject matter, she wanted to write a track that was not self-indulgent featuring a "universal" chorus" and lyrics such as "I was too young for so many things. Yet you thought I'd cope with being told I'm ugly". After the release of her debut album "Cinderella's Eyes", which featured the track, Roberts appeared on the British television show "BBC Breakfast" to discuss bullying in relation to the track. Soon afterward she advocated the issue on BBC News; in an interview she discussed the lyrical themes of the track, and during the interview named social networking site Twitter as being a tool which highlights the severity of the issue of bullying, finding the problem to be "out of control" in a schooling environment. Roberts continued to advocate on the issue of bullying; in an interview given to "Rolling Stone", she stated she was "sick" of an image-driven society. After her success with the anti-tanning bill Roberts took a similar stance with bullying saying "it doesn't need to happen" and found that British laws were failing to combat the issue with Roberts saying "People are still scared to go to school, kids are threatening to kill themselves; it's disgusting that it persists. So, again, I'm giving a voice to a cause, to hopefully affect change." Roberts then progressed to the British education secretary Michael Gove to raise the issue.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese and , and similar to the Mongolian , the Korean and , the Vietnamese , the Sundanese and the Kazakhstan . Koto are roughly in length, and made from Paulownia wood ("Paulownia tomentosa", known as ). The most common type uses 13 strings strung over movable bridges used for tuning, different pieces possibly requiring different tuning. 17-string koto are also common, and act as bass in ensembles. Koto strings are generally plucked using three fingerpicks (), worn on the first three fingers of the right hand.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The character for "koto" is , although is often used. However, ("koto") is the general term for all string instruments in the Japanese language, including instruments such as the , , , , , and so on. When read as , it indicates the Chinese instrument . The term is used today in the same way.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The term "koto" appears in the in reference to an ancient string instrument in this usage. Variations of the instrument were eventually created, and eventually a few of them would become the standard variations for modern day koto. The four types of koto () were all created by different subcultures, but also adapted to change the playing style.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The ancestor of the koto was the Chinese . It was first introduced to Japan from China in the 7th and 8th century. The first known version had five strings, which eventually increased to seven strings. The Japanese koto belongs to the Asian zither family that also comprises the Chinese (ancestral to the other zithers in the family), the Korean , and the Vietnamese . This variety of instrument came in two basic forms, a zither that had bridges and a zither without bridges.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: When the koto was first imported to Japan, the native word koto was a generic term for any and all Japanese stringed instruments. As the number of different stringed instruments in Japan grew, the once-basic definition of koto could not describe the wide variety of these instruments and so the meanings changed. The or was called the , the was called the , and the ( being an older pronunciation of ) was called the or koto.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The modern koto originates from the used in Japanese court music (). It was a popular instrument among the wealthy; the instrument was considered a romantic one. Some literary and historical records indicate that solo pieces for koto existed centuries before , the music of the solo koto genre, was established. According to Japanese literature, the koto was used as imagery and other extra music significance. In one part of "The Tale of Genji", the titular character falls deeply in love with a mysterious woman whom he has never seen before, after hearing her playing the koto from a distance.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The koto of the was made for the tradition, originally intended only for blind men. Women were forbidden from playing the instrument in the professional world, nor were they allowed to teach it. When these strict rules were relieved, women began to play the koto, with the exception of the , as its design for the blind led to a decline in use; other koto proved more useful. The two main koto varieties still used today are the and . These two have relatively stayed the same, with the exception of material innovations such as the use plastic, as well as modern material for the strings. The is the newest addition to the koto family, surfacing in the 19th century. It was purposefully created to extend the range of the instrument and advance the style of play. These were made with 17, 21, and 31 strings.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Perhaps the most important influence on the development of koto was Yatsuhashi Kengyo (1614–1685). Yatsuhashi was a gifted blind musician from Kyoto who vastly extended the limited selection of only six traditional koto songs to a brand-new style of koto music which he called . Yatsuhashi changed the tunings, which were based on the older ways of tuning; and with this change, a new style of koto was born. Yatsuhashi is now known as the "Father of Modern Koto".


title: Koto (instrument)

text: A smaller influence in the evolution of the koto is found in the inspiration of a woman named Keiko Nosaka. Nosaka (a musician who won Grand Prize in Music from the Japanese Ministry of Culture in 2002), felt confined by playing a koto with just 13 strings, and created new versions of the instrument with 20 or more strings.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Japanese developments in bridgeless zithers include the one-stringed koto () and two-stringed koto ( or ). Around the 1920s, Goro Morita created a new version of the two-stringed koto. On this koto, one would push down buttons above the metal strings like the western autoharp. It was named the after the Taishō period.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: At the beginning of the Meiji Period (1868–1912), Western music was introduced to Japan. Michio Miyagi (1894–1956), a blind composer, innovator, and performer, is considered to have been the first Japanese composer to combine western music and traditional koto music. Miyagi is largely regarded as being responsible for keeping the koto alive when traditional Japanese arts were being forgotten and replaced by Westernization. He wrote over 300 new works for the instrument before his death in a train accident at the age of 62. He also invented the popular 17-string bass koto, created new playing techniques, advanced traditional forms, and most importantly increased the koto's popularity. He performed abroad and by 1928 his piece for koto and , ("Spring Sea") had been transcribed for numerous instruments. is even played to welcome each New Year in Japan.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Since Miyagi's time, many composers such as Kimio Eto (1924–2012), Tadao Sawai (1937–1997) have written and performed works that continue to advance the instrument. Sawai's widow Kazue Sawai, who as a child was Miyagi's favored disciple, has been the largest driving force behind the internationalization and modernization of the koto. Her arrangement of composer John Cage's prepared piano duet "Three Dances" for four prepared bass koto was a landmark in the modern era of koto music.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: For about 150 years after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese shirked their isolationist ideals and began to openly embrace American and European influences, the most likely explanation for why the koto has taken on many different variations of itself.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: A koto is typically made of Paulownia wood (known as ), although treatment of the wood varies tremendously between artisans. A koto may or may not be adorned. Adornments include inlays of ivory and ebony, tortoise shell, metal figures, etc. The wood is also cut into two patterns, (also called ), which has a swirling pattern, or straight-lined . The straight lined pattern is easier to manufacture, so the swirl raises the cost of production, and is therefore reserved for decorative and elegant models.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The body of a traditional koto is made of Paulownia wood. Every piece of the instrument comes with cultural significance, especially since the koto is the national instrument. The wood is dried and cut into precise measurements. The size of the soundboard on a standard modern koto has remained approximately , where in the past it ranged from .


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The bridges () used to be made of ivory, but nowadays are typically made of plastic, and occasionally made of wood. One can alter the pitch of a string by manipulating or moving the bridge. For some very low notes, there are small bridges made, as well as specialty bridges with three different heights, depending on the need of the tuning. When a small bridge is unavailable for some very low notes, some players may, as an emergency measure, use a bridge upside down, though this is unstable and not ideal. Bridges have been known to break during playing, and with some older instruments which have the surface where the bridges rest being worn due to much use, the bridges may fall during playing, especially when pressing strings. There are, of course, various sorts of patch materials sold to fill the holes which cause the legs of a bridge to rest on an unstable area. About long and wide, the koto is traditionally placed on the floor in front of the player, who kneels.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The strings are made from a variety of materials. Various types of plastic strings are popular. Silk strings, typically yellow in color, are still made, despite their higher price and lower durability than modern strings; some musicians prefer them, perceiving a difference in sound quality to modern strings. The strings are tied with a half hitch to a roll of paper or cardboard, about the size of a cigarette butt, strung through the holes at the head of the koto, threaded through the holes at the back, tightened, and tied with a special knot. Strings can be tightened by a special machine, but often are tightened by hand, and then tied. One can tighten by pulling the string from behind, or sitting at the side of the koto, although the latter is much harder and requires much arm strength. Some instruments may have tuning pins (like a piano) installed, to make tuning easier.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The , the silk thread used in the instrument, is a pivotal part of its construction. This feature was not seen on the speculated nobility-style instruments because they used a more tension of theirs and valued the relict nature of their instruments. The commoners did all the innovations that made the koto not only a sturdy instrument, but more sonically adept. The was used in paper so the fine silk was in abundance in Japan. As of the beginning of the 19th century, an ivory called became the standard for the koto.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: For every part of the koto, there is a traditional name which connects with the opinion that the body of a koto resembles that of a dragon. Thus, the top part is called the , while the bottom part is called the . One end of the koto, noticeable because of the removable colorful fabricshell, is known as the , consisting of parts such as the – the saddle of the bridge or the – , and – the space above the . The other end of the koto is called the ; the string nut is called the .


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The influence of Western pop music has made the koto less prominent in Japan, although it is still developing as an instrument. The 17-string bass koto () has become more prominent over the years since its development by Michio Miyagi. There are also 20-, 21-, and 25-string koto. Works are being written for 20- and 25-string koto and 17-string bass koto. Reiko Obata has also made the koto accessible to Western music readers with the publication of two books for solo koto using Western notation. The current generation of koto players, such as American performers Reiko Obata and Miya Masaoka, Japanese master Kazue Sawai, and Michiyo Yagi, are finding places for the koto in today's jazz, experimental music and even pop music. The members of the band Rin' are popular 17-string koto players in the modern music scene.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: June Kuramoto of the jazz fusion group Hiroshima was one of the first koto performers to popularize the koto in a non-traditional fusion style. Reiko Obata, founder of East West Jazz, was the first to perform and record an album of jazz standards featuring the koto. Obata also produced the first-ever English language koto instructional DVD, titled "You Can Play Koto". Obata is one of the few koto performers to perform concertos with United States orchestras, having done so on multiple occasions, including with Orchestra Nova for San Diego's KPBS in 2010.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Other solo performers outside Japan include award-winning recording artist Elizabeth Falconer, who also studied for a decade at the Sawai Koto School in Tokyo, and Linda Kako Caplan, Canadian (grandmaster) and member of Fukuoka's Chikushi Koto School for over two decades. Another Sawai disciple, Masayo Ishigure, holds down a school in New York City. Yukiko Matsuyama leads her KotoYuki band in Los Angeles. Her compositions blend the timbres of world music with her native Japanese culture. She performed on the Grammy-winning album "" (2010) by the Paul Winter Consort, garnering additional exposure to Western audiences for the instrument. In November 2011, worldwide audiences were further exposed to the koto when she performed with Shakira at the Latin Grammy Awards.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: In March 2010, the koto received widespread international attention when a video linked by the Grammy Award-winning hard rock band Tool on its website became a viral hit. The video showed Tokyo-based ensemble Soemon playing member Brett Larner's arrangement of the Tool song "Lateralus" for six bass and two bass koto. Larner had previously played koto with John Fahey, Jim O'Rourke, and members of indie rock groups including Camper Van Beethoven, Deerhoof, Jackie O Motherfucker, and Mr. Bungle.


title: Koto (instrument)

text: In older pop and rock music, David Bowie used a koto in the instrumental piece "Moss Garden" on his album ""Heroes"" (1977). The multi-instrumentalist, founder, and former guitarist of The Rolling Stones Brian Jones played the koto in the song "Take It Or Leave It" on the album "Aftermath" (1966).


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Paul Gilbert, a popular guitar virtuoso, recorded his wife Emi playing the koto on his song "Koto Girl" from the album "Alligator Farm" (2000). Rock band Kagrra, are well known for using traditional Japanese musical instruments in many of their songs, an example being , a song in which the koto has a prominent place. Winston Tong, the singer of Tuxedomoon, uses it on his 15-minute song "The Hunger" from his debut solo album "Theoretically Chinese" (1985).


title: Koto (instrument)

text: The rock band Queen used a (toy) koto in "The Prophet's Song" on their 1975 album "A Night at the Opera". Ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett used a koto on the instrumental song "The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere" from the album "Spectral Mornings" (1979), and Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks sampled a koto using an Emulator keyboard for the band's song "Mama". A koto played by Hazel Payne is featured in A Taste of Honey's 1981 English cover of the Japanese song "Sukiyaki". A synthesized koto appears in their cover of The Miracles' "I'll Try Something New". Steve Howe used a koto in the instrumental break of Asia's single "Heat of the Moment", from their self-titled 1982 album. Howe also played a koto on the Yes song "It Will Be a Good Day (The River)", from the 1999 album "The Ladder".


title: Koto (instrument)

text: Dr. Dre's 1999 album "2001" prominently features a synthesized koto on two of its tracks, "Still D.R.E." and "The Message". A 2020 acoustic cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" by PianoRock feat. Dean McNeill also prominently features a synthesized koto.


title: Mach Loop

text: The Mach Loop (also known as the Machynlleth Loop) is a series of valleys in the United Kingdom in west-central Wales, notable for their use as low-level training areas for fast aircraft. The system of valleys lies east of Barmouth between the towns of Dolgellau to the north and Machynlleth to the south, from the latter of which it takes its name. The training area is within the Low Flying Area (LFA) LFA7, which covers most of Wales.


title: Mach Loop

text: Aircraft seen in the area include Royal Air Force Airbus A400M, Typhoon, Hawk jets and C-130J and Short Tucano as well as F-15C Eagles and F-15E Strike Eagles which are based at RAF Lakenheath and MC-130 and V-22 Osprey from RAF Mildenhall. Aircraft from other European nations have been sighted training in the Mach Loop, such as Belgian F-16 "Stingers".


title: Mach Loop

text: In December 2018 a recommendation was circulated within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which resulted in a reduction in the number of aircraft using the Mach Loop. Since this time RAF frontline squadrons operating Typhoons and F-35Bs have not flown the Loop. In addition to this all non-UK based aircraft are also prohibited from using the Loop unless part of a UK exercise.


title: Mach Loop

text: The Mach Loop is among the few places in the world where photographers can see combat aircraft flying below them. One popular viewing point is the carpark located on the site of Llyn y Tri Greyenyn.


title: Mach Loop

text: It is possible to fly the Mach Loop using a flight simulator. Arguably the most accurate representation is with Microsoft's Flight Simulator platform, launched in 2020. The simulator streams Bing Maps data to reproduce the contours and appearance of the loop and surrounding countryside with an increasing range of jet aircraft available to make the flight.


title: Mach Loop

text: An alternative is the FlightGear flight simulator, created by the FGUK community as an add-on for the simulator, which provides the player with the challenge of guiding aircraft at high speed through rings that mark the route. In addition, the scenario has "start" and "finish" points, and each run in the Mach Loop is timed to let the player know the time per lap.


title: Breaking news

text: Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in order to report its details. Its use is also assigned to the most significant story of the moment or a story that is being covered live. It could be a story that is simply of wide interest to viewers and has little impact otherwise. Many times, breaking news is used after the news organization has already reported on the story. When a story has not been reported on previously, the graphic and phrase "Just In" is sometimes used instead.


title: Breaking news

text: The format of a "special report" or "breaking news" event on broadcast television commonly consists of the following: When a news event warrants an interruption of current non-news programming (or, in some cases, regularly scheduled newscasts), the broadcaster will usually alert all of its affiliates via an internal alert/message service telling them to stand by for the interruption. After some time, the network's feed will suddenly switch to a reverse countdown, usually from 5 seconds, to allow any affiliated stations to switch to the network feed (television stations typically do not provide these countdowns for local coverage, merely leading with a graphic and voiceover announcing the cut-in). If a national network newscast is in progress when the breaking news event occurs, the newscast will pause temporarily to allow other network affiliates to join the feed. There is then an opening graphic, featuring music (such as NBC's "The Pulse of Events", composed by John Williams) which adds an emphasis on the importance of the event. The open is followed by the introduction of a news anchor, who welcomes the viewer to the broadcast and introduces the story at hand. Lower thirds and other graphics may also be altered to convey a sense of urgency.


title: Breaking news

text: Once the story is introduced, the network or local station may, if possible, choose to continue to show a live shot of the anchor or may cut away to video or images of the story that is being followed during the broadcast. Additionally, the coverage may be passed to a reporter at the location of the breaking event, possibly sharing more information about the story as it breaks.