By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

Analog television will be switched off on Dec. 31, 2012, which means viewers will need to buy digital television sets or subscribe to pay-television services such as cable or Web-based television by that time.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's converged regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, announced the analog television end date following a meeting of commissioners Wednesday. The analog airwaves will be precisely cut off at 4 a.m. on the last day of 2012, the KCC officials said.

``We decided that the date for the end of analog television should be a weekday, as there could be a lot of questions and complaints from citizens on that particular day,'' said Yoo Dae-seon, who heads KCC's digital broadcasting transition bureau.

However, viewers subscribed to analog cable television services will continue to get free terrestrial channels without changing their television sets or subscribing to digital cable services.

``Cable television operators will have to make their own decision about when would be right to stop providing analog services and the government won't be making decisions that could affect the business of pay-T.V. providers in some way. However, analog cable will prevent viewers from accessing high-quality services such as high-definition (HD) images and interactive data services,'' Yoo said.

About 80 percent of the country's 16 million households are subscribed to pay-T.V. services, KCC officials said. Viewers unwilling to pay for digital televisions or subscribe to cable or Internet protocol television (IPTV) could opt to purchase the government-provided digital convertors, which will be sold at around 10,000 won each, which will allow them to keep using their old television sets.