Having switched completely to digital signals, the Netherlands on Monday became the first country to say goodbye to traditional analog television.

The shift was conducted smoothly from midnight to 2 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) on Monday, said a spokesman from the former Dutch telecommunication monopoly Royal KPN NV, which had been engaged in analog television broadcasting through its licensed bandwidth.

Under a deal with the government, the company will provide several free public channels. In return, it can use the rest of the open bandwidth to charge around 18.50 U.S. dollars a month for a package of other channels. In order to decode digital signals, customers have to buy a tuner for around 66.50 dollars.

Analog television was introduced in the Netherlands in 1951, but few people are currently using the old-fashioned TV antennas.

Now the country's overwhelming majority get digital TV signals via cable, which serves 94 percent of the market.

Countries around the world are gradually making the switch to digital, with some Scandinavian countries and Belgium ready for complete switch in 2007, and the United States in 2009 and Japan in 2011.

Source: Xinhua