Thousands of households in Cyprus are experiencing problems retuning their televisions as private channels transition to high-definition (HD), with complaints from the public mounting despite the public awareness campaigns that preceded the switch.

Speaking on the Alpha News program, Andronikos Kakkouras, Deputy Director of the Department of Electronic Communications, was asked to respond to criticism regarding unanswered calls to number provided to assist viewers, Mr. Kakouras stated that there was a “flood” of calls.

He noted, for example, that on the first day, 1,600 calls were received, of which 1,100 were answered, while on the second day, 1,100 calls were received and approximately 90% were answered.

The 22000737 hotline operates seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

When asked about specific brands of televisions, Mr. Kakkouras stated that if the broadcast country is changed, they may work, explaining that because they were imported from Greece, the channel search fails. Thus, by changing the country setting through the TV’s settings, the TV can be retuned, though Mr. Kakkouras notes that this “trick” does not work in all cases.

The next step is to call a technician, who should confirm that the necessary steps were not taken and that the problem did indeed stem from the internal wiring.

Alpha has created a special artificial intelligence tool that allows you to check, in a few simple steps, whether your TV is compatible with DVB-T2 technology. 

You can find it here.

According to Virginia Christou, Legal Advisor to the Consumers’ Association, consumers have complained that set-top boxes of a certain brand that they purchased and installed “exploded” or emitted sparks inside their homes, causing them to stop working immediately.

Ms. Christou urges anyone who has encountered such a problem to contact the Electromechanical Services immediately, providing proof of purchase, so that the safety of the products can be investigated and their recall from the market can proceed.

At the same time, there has been an increase in the prices of set-top boxes. As Ms. Christou states, while set-top box prices in the Cypriot market initially started at €18, there has now been an unjustified increase. Today, the same devices are selling for as much as €40, with the average price hovering around €25.

Ms. Christou cited the case of an elderly woman who was charged €180, €90 for each of her two televisions by a technician to supply and install the set-top boxes.

Consumers complain that some companies, instead of helping with the setup, are pushing people to buy new TVs, claiming that the current measure is temporary and that problems will arise again in the future.