TV, the new decoder bonus is coming. Access with controls on the Rai licence fee

The new incentive campaign for the purchase of TV decoders will follow the model of the home appliance bonus. A list of purchasable products and participating vendors to be consulted online, checks on the requirements of those applying, and the issuing of a time-based voucher to be transformed into a discount on the invoice at the vendor: all on an IT platform, PARI, managed by the company PagoPa, with access through the services section of the IO app or through the dedicated site by identifying oneself with Spid or electronic identity card.

The rules, contained in a decree issued by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy and registered by the Court of Auditors on 27 May, are ready, although the opening date for applications is still missing and will be communicated in a subsequent provision. The economic contributions will be recognised to an extent not exceeding 70% of the purchase cost of the decoder and in any case up to EUR 30 for standard digital terrestrial decoders and EUR 70 for satellite decoders. The digital terrestrial decoder must be able to receive terrestrial TV signals based on the new DVB-T2 standard and the new HEVC (high efficiency video coding) Main 10 coding system; the satellite decoder must be equipped with a DVB-S2 tuner and a 10-bit HEVC video compression standard.

The total resources allocated for the measure, from the cohesion funds managed by the ministry, amount to 30 million, but the dowry available to consumers is 28.8 million because 4% (1.2 million) must be subtracted to be paid to the managers of the instrument, the companies PagoPa and Invitalia. The operating system will broadly follow the one adopted for the recent home appliance bonus.

Only one contribution per registered family may be granted. The PARI platform will acquire the requisites of those who apply by cross-referencing the information from the National Register of the Resident Population, through the national digital data platform, and those from the Revenue Agency database to verify the regularity of payment of the Rai licence fee. Only if the requirements are met will a unique alphanumeric code be generated to be used with the seller to obtain the discount on the invoice. The voucher will be time-limited, i.e. it will have a limited validity from the moment of issue (to be defined with the next implementing measure). In any case, the order in which applications are submitted will be respected, and recognition of the contribution will be subject to the actual availability of resources, within the ceiling of 28.8 million. In the case of e-commerce transactions, as happened for the incentives on household appliances, sellers will most likely have to follow a special procedure for accepting the online discount voucher.

A list of decoders available with the discount will be available on the website of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, subject to registration on the platform by manufacturers and importers of the products with which they intend to participate in the campaign. The seller will be reimbursed by bank transfer by Invitalia after uploading the sales documentation on the platform.