A few minutes ago it was reported that the analog signal blackout in Tijuana will be postponed until July 7, after the completion of the election campaigns in the region. Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, who is the Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transport (SCT), was commissioned to communicate this news.

Just yesterday afternoon the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, had ordered the SCT to place a help desk in Tijuana, because of all of the complaints of more than 14,000 families that did not have the decoder device for their television sets that is required to capture the new digital signal.

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza arrived today in the border town and made this decision to postpone the blackout.

The Electoral Institute for Citizen Participation of Baja California had stated that the lack of access to the television signal could affect the elections of July 7, which is the date that Baja California will hold elections for governor, mayors and deputies.

The blackout date had been originally scheduled for May 28, and once it was in force, hundreds of people gathered at the City Hall in Tijauna to complain about not receiving the decoder devices, which Cofetel was responsible for distributing these out to the general population in the region before change would take effect. Cofetel mentioned that more than 190,000 decoders were handed out and that for those who did not receive one, they would have to purchase this device that has a cost of around 600 pesos (about $53 USD).

The Mayor of Tijuana, Carlos Bustamante, mentioned that the root of this problem was that the people of Tijuana were not ready for this change.

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Brenda.Colon@Sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@Sandiegored.com