Building the digital TV standard: The Brazilian experience

Abstract

This paper analyses the implementation of the Digital Television in Brazil. This process involved the choice of the Digital TV standard to be used in the country, for which there have been three competing technologies: the Japanese standard, the American one and the European one. The Brazilian choice for the Japanese standard, associated with heavy investments to adapt it and to promote incremental innovations in this standard pose many interesting features for a heterodox analysis on technological policies. The main contribution of this paper is therefore to call attention to the strategic role of the standardization process for innovative activities, in which the governmental support is a necessary condition.