Archive

2009/01/28

Mancomunidad de la Ribera Alta local authority wins award for the Interactive TDT pilot project conducted by VILAU

The project, which began to be deployed at Algemesi, Carcaixent and Benifaió in November, was funded by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade as part of Plan Avanza (Plan for the development of the information society).

The VII awards ceremony of the "Tramite parlamentario y municipal" magazine, specialising in parliamentary information, was presided by President of the Spanish Congress, José Bono, in Madrid on 28 January. The publication's awards recognise the best political initiatives submitted throughout 2008 to the Spanish Parliament, the European Parliament, the Regional Parliaments and Local Councils.

The Chair of the Mancomunidad de la Ribera Alta local authority, Rosa Sebastiá, received the "Information and Communication" award, together with Salvador Garriga, Euro MP for the European Popular Group, José Mª Chiquillo, Senator for Valencia of the Popular parliamentary group, Gabriel Inclán, Basque Minister for Health and Ángel Ros, Mayor of Lleida.

The event was also attended by Ramón Jáuregui, General Secretary of the Social Group in the Spanish Congress, and Mª Dolores de Cospedal, General Secretary of the PP. Both received the "Communication Effectiveness" award.

The Mancomunidad de la Ribera Alta local authority won its prize for the Interactive Digital Television Pilot Project. Vilau was in charge of setting up, designing, developing and broadcasting the interactive services. Vilau was also responsible for managing and the technical aspects of the project.

The pilot project consisted in providing citizens with the opportunity to consult services and complete administrative formalities from home using their television sets. The services provide information of interest for the citizen about the municipality where he lives, including the services of the Local Council, transport timetables and information about cultural events.

The citizen can also interact with the television and take part in surveys and, even, ask for a doctor?s appointment at the Valencia Health Department?s health centres, which is one of the first interactive services of the kind throughout Spain. And the citizen can do all this from his armchair, just by pushing buttons on his TV remote control.

The interactive services are managed online and the world of digital television is thus merged with IP technology.

The Mancomunidad selected a representative sample of users from Algemesí, Carcaixent and Benifaió. The cooperation of the local residents was needed to carry out this innovative project and the only requirement was to have TDT reception and ADSL connection, and to go to the local council offices and fill in an application form. No charge was made for taking part in the project and a TDT MHP1.1.2. was installed for the selected participants as a reward for their time.

Ribera TV, Libertad Digital TV and Tele 7, the TDT channels assigned to the Ribera Alta (Canal 44) local multiplex, took part in this plan. The daily scheduling of these channels was included in the interactive services broadcast as an additional service.