Digital TV due in November
A new era for television is in motion, with broadcast “migration” from analogue to a digital system due to take place later this year.
South Africans will experience a revolutionary change in television broadcasting for the first time since its national launch in 1976.
“On November 1, we will switch on the digital system,” said communications department spokesman Albie Modise, adding that there had been a need to rehabilitate and upgrade the current broadcasting system.
“It is a worldwide initiative of the International Telecommunication Union to see this migration from analogue to digital.”
Calvo Mawela, a member of Digital Dzonga, the body overseeing broadcast migration, said the digital system provided better picture quality than analogue.
“It is also spectrum-efficient, and six to eight services could be accommodated,” he said.
Through the analogue system, one television service was catered for. By running the digital system, there was an opportunity for more available channels to be licensed.
The digital system will run parallel to the current analogue system for three years.
The analogue system will be switched off in November 2011.
Analogue television sets can still be used after the analogue system is switched off, provided that owners buy a set top box (STB).
This will receive a digital signal, and convert it to analogue. A once-off payment is attached to the STB, Modise said. Although a price had not yet been determined, it would be in the R400 range.
Mawela said subsidisation has not yet been finalised for the STB, but “the department of communication is looking at a subsidy level to benefit the very low end of the market”.
The STB has two purposes, one of which is to make the switch from analogue to digital possible.
“The other dimension of the box is that it allows interactivity between the consumer and broadcaster,” Modise said.
It would also allow the public broadcaster to track consumers who do not have a valid television licence.
Installation of STBs is not expected to be complicated, but Mawela said a consumer awareness campaign would show consumers how to install the STB themselves.
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