Signal to migrate

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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The department of communications (DoC) has set November 1 as the time from which all television channels have to start implementing plans to migrate to digital broadcasting. This follows the International Telecommunications Union's decision that all its member countries should migrate from analogue broadcasting to digital – by 2015 in the case of African countries and by 2012 where developed states are concerned.

The main reason for the migration is the increasing cost of repairing ageing analogue infrastructure. Much of the infrastructure used by the SABC, for example, dates back to the mid-1970 s.

According to estimates, SA's 11m households own 8,2m TV sets. Of these users 1,2m are DStv subscribers. The rest rely on free-to-air broadcasters SABC and e.tv, who use analogue transmitters.

If SA is to meet its deadline, 7m households will have to buy set top box (STB) decoders, which are punted as the most economical option. Users will have to plug them into their TVs to receive digital transmissions without having to buy new sets.

STBs don't come cheap. The most basic will cost around R500, the price increasing as extra features are included. Government is looking at subsidising the decoders, but a decision is still awaited.

The transition to digital broadcasting overseas has not been very successful, even among early adopters. According to research firm Screen Digest, adoption in the UK and Spain stood at around a third five years after new standards were introduced.

Though other countries have given themselves between five and 10 years to switch over, SA is more ambitious. It intends to achieve digital broadcasting in just three years – with November 2011 as the cut-off date.

In SA the main driver behind the process is the 2010 soccer World Cup. By the time it takes place, government aims to have 80% digital transmission. The state-owned signal provider Sentech has started upgrading its equipment at a cost of about R1bn.

Digital terrestrial television has a number of advantages: viewers will be able to receive better-quality pictures, greater interactivity, the possibility to broadcast content in all 11 official languages and a wider variety of channels.

It will allow broadcasters, like SABC and e.tv, to broadcast up to six channels using one frequency as opposed to the current single channel per frequency.

But broadcasters and their service providers are beginning to panic, as the four central policies needed for digital migration are well behind schedule.

The four policies are: the finalisation of the digital terrestrial transmission policy framework on migration; the launch of an intensive consumer education campaign ; a government subsidy to assist consumers who need to buy new equipment; and exclusive content.

The delay in the policy framework by the DoC is the most frustrating for the industry. With nine months to go and no policy in place, the industry says it cannot make any strategic decisions.

"Switching on in November is not a problem. But we are frustrated at the lack of a framework in which the migration to digital will take place," Johan Koster, executive director of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), recently told a conference.

Other issues the DoC has to rule on are the type of equipment broadcasters should use, whether this will be manufactured locally or imported, and, most importantly, whether there will be state subsidies for the equipment.

Altech sales and marketing director Ian Develing says there are also discussions within the industry and the DoC that the STB should be used for all smart cards, particularly now that four new pay-TV broadcasters are coming onto the market.

The SABC in particular is backing the transition to digital, which would allow it to offer further channels at a time when the entry of the pay-TV channels could offer viewers more choice.

The state broadcaster, which has a 65% share of the TV audience market, will also be able to better track licence fees by means of subscriptions to the new service.

"We have a very short time to manage an extremely complex process," says Yusuf Nabee, the SABC's strategy manager for content enterprises. "We are running behind schedule but we don't believe the deadline is impossible to meet."

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