Dielectric and 90 Degrees North install across the Philippines

by Daryl Ilbury December 6, 2023 4 min read

Dielectric’s presence across the Philippines continues to grow as regional partner 90 Degrees North has won several TV and FM projects that will bring new and improved services to urban and remote populations. 90 Degrees North has recently designed or installed Dielectric antenna systems for TV5, Philippine Collective Media Corporation, Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, AMBS and Aliw Broadcast Corporation. The latter two are long-time radio broadcasters new to TV broadcasting, with 90 Degrees North managing their initial TV system launches.

In addition to owning and operating 90 Degrees North, John “Achie” Denna is out in the trenches managing the Dielectric installations and working with FM broadcasters throughout the region to refresh analog infrastructure. 90 Degrees North recently won a large contract with PCMC to raise Dielectric antennas at 106 PCMC sites throughout the country.

That rollout remains in progress, with Denna and his team mainly installing DCR-T ring-style antennas at 45 low-power sites to date. Deployments will continue well into 2024, including higher-power DCR-C and DCR-H ring-style antennas for 10kW and 20kW stations in Davao City, Manila and Quezon.

The Philippines is a nation of 7,641 islands amidst a DTV transition that currently brings ISDB-Tb digital TV services to approximately half the country’s population. Denna notes that Dielectric’s market share there continues to rise as the country’s DTV transition moves forward. “All primary and secondary cities now have robust digital coverage, and we’re moving into the tertiary cities to perform system designs, confirm power levels and decide which antennas to use,” said Denna. “Throughout all this, Dielectric has captured more than 40 percent of the TV and FM broadcast market here in the Philippines, which is a major feat considering that Dielectric has only had a presence in the country since 2018.”