November 25, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka has stopped issuing new licences for terrestrial analogue television channels, following Cabinet approval of a proposal jointly put forward by the Minister of Mass Media and the President in his role as Minister of Digital Economy.
Currently, 24 analogue TV channels — five of them state-run — operate under licences granted to 16 organisations. Officials say the analogue frequency spectrum has reached full capacity, leaving no room for additional broadcasters and prompting the need for a long-delayed technological shift.
To manage this transition, the Ministry of Mass Media has launched the Digital Non-Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Project, which will replace the nation’s patchwork of 46 analogue transmission systems with a unified digital platform. The initiative promises clearer picture quality, improved reliability and more efficient use of the broadcast spectrum.
The project is being carried out with technical and financial support from the Government of Japan, and is expected to be fully operational by 2029. Once the digital network is complete, authorities plan to phase out analogue transmissions entirely within a two-year wind-down period.
As part of this transition, the Cabinet has formally discontinued the issuance of analogue terrestrial TV licences with immediate effect. Going forward, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) will oversee all future frequency allocations for terrestrial broadcasting, ensuring that the shift to digital technology proceeds in an orderly and transparent manner.
