Bonus TV: this is how it will work in 2022

Many confirmations, more money available and a novelty reserved for the elderly with low pensions: here are the novelties of Bonus TV 2022

The Bonus TV 2021, i.e. the one for everyone but with the obligation to scrap the old equipment, was much more successful than the Bonus TV 2019, i.e. the one without the obligation to scrap but with an ISEE limit of 20,000 euros. But both will be proposed again in 2022, with new additional funds and a novelty reserved for the elderly over 70.

This is, in a nutshell, the situation at the end of 2021 and in view of the new year. A year that, we remind you, will be very "hot" in terms of the switch off to the new second generation digital terrestrial television: as early as January 3, in fact, all the regions of northern Italy will be affected by the so-called "refarming" of frequencies, which will involve the transition of many channels to Mpeg 4, a standard that the old TVs cannot handle. It is therefore urgent to switch to newer technologies: TVs sold in the last two years will not have any problems, older TVs might and, of these TVs, there are still quite a few in Italy. That's why the Government is about to launch the Bonus TV 2022, foreseen within the Budget Law currently under consideration in Parliament.

Bonus TV: how 2021 went

According to the data reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, Italians liked the Bonus with scrapping, the one launched in August 2021, much more than the old Bonus TV with ISEE limit: out of 2.2 million bonuses disbursed at the end of November, for a total of 134 million euros, a good 93.6 million euros are related to the Bonus with scrapping.

In total, in the period from August to the end of November 2021 alone, 1.6 million TVs and decoders were replaced thanks to the two cumulative bonuses. We would like to remind you, for the sake of fairness, that in addition to the economic incentive to push Italians towards the purchase of a new device, it was also the switchover to Mpeg 4 of the first Rai and Mediaset broadcasters, in October 2021.

Bonus TV 2022: how it will be in 2022

A team that wins, you don't change. That's the saying, and since the team made up of the two TV Bonuses won, it won't be changed in 2022 but, on the contrary, will be refinanced: another 68 million euros are on the way, to be spread over both Bonuses.

Considering that there are still about 117 million left to spend, left over from the previous financial allocations for the two Bonus TVs, by doing a simple addition it turns out that for 2022 a good 185 million euros will be available to stimulate the renewal of the Italian TV park.

To this money, then, another 5 million euros will be added, used to pay for a new initiative reserved for seniors with low pensions: free home delivery.

Bonus TV 2022: domicilio gratuito per gli anziani

Tra le varie misure presenti nella legge di Bilancio, che il Parlamento si appresta ad approvare (giovedì il voto in Senato, poi il testo passerà alla Camera), c’è anche quella che prevede un accordo tra il Governo e Poste Italiane per la consegna gratuita a domicilio di un nuovo decoder DVB-T2 elle persone anziane.

I requisiti per usufruire di questo ulteriore Bonus TV sono tre:

  • Costo massimo del decoder di 30 euro
  • Pensione massima lorda di 20 mila euro
  • Età minima di 70 anni

Anche se la misura verrà approvata, però, non sarà subito operativa: dovrà prima passare dalla stesura di un accordo con Poste Italiane, che nel testo all’esame viene definito come facoltativo. Poste, that is, could also refuse to make the deliveries.

This choice, eventually, would not be so much due to the actual delivery of the decoder (that Poste can do without any problem), as to the fact that Poste should also make available to the elderly people to whom it has delivered the decoder a telephone assistance service: operators trained to explain to the elderly people how to install the decoder by themselves and put it into operation.