regions of Croatia|alt=Map of Croatia with digital TV regions The first trial broadcasts of
DVB-T signals began in May 2002 in Zagreb, and in 2008, the government developed the Analogue to Digital Television Broadcasting Switchover Strategy for the Republic of Croatia. In July 2008, this
Government of Croatia announced that 106 million
kuna ( 14.1 million euros) were earmarked for the purpose. The government-subsidized purchase of DVB-T receivers, distributing discount coupons worth 75 kuna ( 10 euros) to subscribers of the
HRT. The first two
multiplexes (MUX A and MUX B) were introduced in April 2009, with the third (MUX D) introduced in July 2010. On 5 October 2010, the switch to DVB-T was virtually complete, as all major analog TV transmitters were phased out. The DVB-T transmissions in Croatia are all
standard-definition,
MPEG-2. MUX A is available to more than 98.5 percent of the population of Croatia, and both MUX A and MUX B are available to more than 95 percent of population in each multiplex-allotment region. MUX D is available to approximately 90 percent of the population of Croatia, and at least 70 percent of the population in each of the allotment regions. There are 897,496 households (60.7 percent) in Croatia receiving DVB-T television only. The terrestrial television infrastructure in Croatia is operated by
Odašiljači i veze d.o.o. (OIV). The company was established as an independent
entity in 2002, when a division developing and maintaining electronic communications infrastructure was removed from the HRT corporate system. headquarters in Zagreb|alt=Large, low gray building housing Croatian Radiotelevision headquarters in Zagreb The D5 region covers
Istria County and
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (except parts of the county east of
Ravna Gora and the area around
Novalja on the island of
Pag), but it includes the coastal areas of
Lika-Senj County opposite the islands of
Krk and
Rab. The D6 region encompasses parts of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika-Senj counties outside the D4 and D5 regions, except for parts of the latter (south of
Lovinac) and coastal parts of the same county opposite the island of Pag. Those two areas are a part of the D7 region, along with
Zadar and
Šibenik-Knin counties. The D8 region includes the entire
Split-Dalmatia County as well as parts of
Dubrovnik-Neretva County around
Ploče and
Metković, a part of
Pelješac peninsula west of
Dubrava and the islands of
Korčula and
Lastovo. The D9 region encompasses the rest of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. OIV installed additional transmitters in the affected areas to strengthen its signal coverage and reduce interference by February 2011 at a cost of 1 million kuna ( 133,000 euros). Although
Italian Minister of Economic Development Paolo Romani announced in August 2011 that the problems should be resolved shortly (a transmitter causing interference was shut down and the power of several others was reduced), the situation was not completely resolved throughout 2011 and the
International Telecommunication Union's
Radio Regulations Board became involved in the process. In the meantime, other technical solutions were devised and implemented (in addition to the emergency transmitters) in order to improve digital-television-signal reception.
Nationwide channels As of May 2014, there are eleven nationwide
free-to-air DVB-T television channels, with HRT's four channels,
RTL Televizija operating three,
Nova TV operating two and the remaining two operated by the
Croatian Olympic Committee and Author d.o.o. companies and the government's Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia. All ten DVB-T television channels are
free-to-air and privately owned, except for HRT's channels and the
Moja uprava channel (which are
publicly owned broadcasters).
Doma TV is part of the Nova TV group. Since 2007 television
audience measurement is conducted by the
Nielsen Company using 1,086
peoplemeters, and it is applied to terrestrial, cable and satellite TV. As of January 2012 HRT, RTL Televizija and Nova TV are using the service. HRT 1, Nova TV and RTL Televizija channels' programmes are not specialized and comprise
news, a variety of scripted and unscripted entertainment, as well as
documentaries. HRT2, Doma TV and
RTL 2 channels, carry similar type of programmes, except for absence of news. In addition, Croatian Radiotelevision is legally required to produce and broadcast programmes covering education of youths, aimed at the
Croatian diaspora, national minorities in Croatia, preservation of
cultural and
natural heritage, protection of the environment, promotion of democracy and
civil society, and support national production of films, television programme and music.
Regional and local channels talk show studio|alt=Orange, red and white TV studio, with blue chairs and gray camera There are 21 regional (or local) DVB-T television channels operating in Croatia in MUX D. The number of channels broadcasting in individual regions varies from one to four, while some local DVB-T television local-allotment regions are vacant as of December 2011. Four regional (or local) television channels are broadcast in more than one allotment region. All regional and local channels are free-to-air. There were two experimental HDTV channels, operated by Croatian Radiotelevision and Nova TV. Pursuant to the digital television switchover developed by the Government of Croatia, broadcasting of DVB-T HDTV channels was conducted in
MPEG-4. On 11 October 2011 experimental
DVB-T2 broadcasting began in Zagreb, using
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC coding and a
conditional access system.
Multiplexes There are three active
multiplexes (MUX) in Croatia. MUX A and MUX B are reserved for nationwide channels, and MUX D is used for local and nationwide channels. MUX A broadcasts HRT 1, HRT 2, RTL and Nova TV channels. MUX B broadcasts HRT 3, HRT 4, RTL 2 and Doma TV. MUX D broadcasts three nationwide channels Sportska televizija (SPTV), RTL Kockica and Croatian Music Channel (CMC) in addition to local TV channels. RTL2 and Doma TV began broadcasting on 2 January 2011. Licences for broadcasting in the national segment of Mux D were given to Croatian Music Channel (CMC), Sportska Televizija (owned by the
Croatian Olympic Committee) and KN in December 2010. They started broadcasting in late March and early April 2011. ==IPTV, cable and satellite television==