Digital TV migration may only finished by 2016 says 8ta executive

Hmm.. I find it hard to beleive that the same people who can afford 250 rand a year for a TV license will be unable to provide a subsidised amount toward a set top box.

Realistically, there is no real option, but to provide the boxes to licence holders at a once off cost or a annual/monthly subscription addition (if you cant afford to buy it outright) over the period of 3 years or similar .. that would mean if the government didnt subsidise at all it would be able to be paid after about 3 years at double the annual tv license fee (ie 250 rand per year or 20 rand per month).

Assuming a government subsidy for poorest of the poor of maybe 15 rand per month this would allow the license holder to pay R8-10 rand per month and still pay it off in about 3 years.

Both options will mean it would be possible to roll out in 3 years TOPS ..

But realistically, the government / SABC dont give a hoot about whether the STB recipients have TV licences or not, they are just mortified at the thought of the propaganda machine being unnaccessible to the millions of unlicensed television viewers, who they are hoping to give STB's to for free ....
 
jetlee said:
Hmm.. I find it hard to beleive that the same people who can afford 250 rand a year for a TV license will be unable to provide a subsidised amount toward a set top box.

Realistically, there is no real option, but to provide the boxes to licence holders at a once off cost or a annual/monthly subscription addition (if you cant afford to buy it outright) over the period of 3 years or similar .. that would mean if the government didnt subsidise at all it would be able to be paid after about 3 years at double the annual tv license fee (ie 250 rand per year or 20 rand per month).

Assuming a government subsidy for poorest of the poor of maybe 15 rand per month this would allow the license holder to pay R8-10 rand per month and still pay it off in about 3 years.

Both options will mean it would be possible to roll out in 3 years TOPS ..

But realistically, the government / SABC dont give a hoot about whether the STB recipients have TV licences or not, they are just mortified at the thought of the propaganda machine being unnaccessible to the millions of unlicensed television viewers, who they are hoping to give STB's to for free ....
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Kudos ... I think the main driving force here would be to abolish "SABC TV Licence Fees." Until the draft Public Service Broadcasting Bill sought, among other things, to abolish TV licences and secure the SABC's funding from other sources gets pushed through. The STB's will have a CAM and a TV Lincence card may have to be inserted to activate it, this might prove too costly for the goverment and likely contribute to the canning for tv lincence fees to be collected. However the debate of how to stop viewers form accessing spillage from accross our borders remains...:confused:
 
Big mistake in the article; The SABS does not issue standards any more, and they haven't done so for many years. The regulatory body is SANAS.
 
Valis said:
Big mistake in the article; The SABS does not issue standards any more, and they haven't done so for many years. The regulatory body is SANAS.
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Thanks for bringing it up. The article is just quoting Doyle's words in this case. As a point of interest, the SANS spec for the DVB-T STB is on the SABS website but not the SANAS one. In fact, I can't find any specifications listed on the SANAS site. Am I doing it wrong or is the SABS site still being used to publish and sell specs?
 
Jan said:
Thanks for bringing it up. The article is just quoting Doyle's words in this case. As a point of interest, the SANS spec for the DVB-T STB is on the SABS website but not the SANAS one. In fact, I can't find any specifications listed on the SANAS site. Am I doing it wrong or is the SABS site still being used to publish and sell specs?
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Yes, the SABS still publish and sell the specs. Nice little business for them :p
 
somnambulist said:
Kudos ... I think the main driving force here would be to abolish "SABC TV Licence Fees." Until the draft Public Service Broadcasting Bill sought, among other things, to abolish TV licences and secure the SABC's funding from other sources gets pushed through. The STB's will have a CAM and a TV Lincence card may have to be inserted to activate it, this might prove too costly for the goverment and likely contribute to the canning for tv lincence fees to be collected. However the debate of how to stop viewers form accessing spillage from accross our borders remains...:confused:
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Agreed, television licenses are the root of all problems, there are plenty of very sucessfull models already in place internationally of public broadcaster who manage to generate a profit and are partially subsidised by the government, and do not require tv licences.

But, like you say, spillage is a factor too, although Id hazard a guess as to say the powers that be arent too worried about that, provided the expenses are covered ...
 
reslfj said:
In the UK DVB-T2 (FreeviewHD) STB's is sold for £30 (Rand 330) - It is not the DVB-T2 chip which is expensive - maybe other features are included or a lack of competition.

This kind of dubious statements have been seen in many places. They often come from people with an alternative political agenda - mostly not supported by any solid information.

Lars :)
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Nothing hidden - he explains why...

A delay in the analogue broadcasting switch-off will also have a knock-on effect on mobile broadband, Maharaj explained.

When the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting is complete, a section of the frequency spectrum, known as the “digital dividend,” will become available for other uses.
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reslfj said:
In the UK DVB-T2 (FreeviewHD) STB's is sold for £30 (Rand 330) - It is not the DVB-T2 chip which is expensive - maybe other features are included or a lack of competition.

This kind of dubious statements have been seen in many places. They often come from people with an alternative political agenda - mostly not supported by any solid information.

Lars :)
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Actually the DVB-T2 chip is very expensive. Please provide facts when disagreeing with an article. A measurement instrument, that can do DVB-T2 is about R2K more than one that can do DVB-T only. This is because of the RF tuner's price. At the moment the chip is very expensive (made by Sony). The chip costs more than the R700 that the DVB-T decoders were going to be sold at...

EDIT: Also, the cheapest Freeview HD box is £70 and is probably subsidised. The £30 box is for normal Freeview and is not DVB-T2 capable.
 
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Quantum Theory said:
EDIT: Also, the cheapest Freeview HD box is £70 and is probably subsidised. The £30 box is for normal Freeview and is not DVB-T2 capable.
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From TESCO website:

Technika STBHDH2010 Freeview HD Set Top Box £30.00 (and they have had other models at £30.00 for a while now)
 
Here is how to achieve a 100% migration to digital without upsetting to many people : Just switch off terrestrial analogue transmitters.

The vast majority of TV viewers are already on a digital platform, either DVB-S from DStv/Vivid or DVD-S2 from TopTV.

Those still using analogue receivers can get DVB-S/S2 for a lot cheaper than DVB-T will cost.
 
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