{"id":39823,"date":"2011-12-19T12:01:34","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T10:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=39823"},"modified":"2011-12-19T12:03:20","modified_gmt":"2011-12-19T10:03:20","slug":"digital-tv-pricing-and-roll-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/39823-digital-tv-pricing-and-roll-out.html","title":{"rendered":"Digital TV pricing and roll-out"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s migration from analogue to digital broadcasting has been fraught with delays and debates, the most recent of which centres around the use of encryption on free-to-air (FTA) channels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, according to M-Net\u2019s<\/a> head of regulatory and legal affairs, Karen Willenberg<\/a>, we mustn\u2019t take our eyes off the prize: the digital dividend.<\/p>\n

Digital dividend the prize for analogue to digital migration<\/h3>\n

The digital dividend is a region of frequency spectrum occupied by analogue TV broadcasts that will be freed when the migration to digital is complete and the analogue signals switched off.<\/p>\n

In South Africa this region is between 700MHz and 900MHz – prime spectrum real estate for providing wide coverage in less urban areas, and popular for the deployment of the high speed successor to 3G<\/a> HSPA+<\/a> networks, Long Term Evolution (LTE)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A costly migration is a slow migration<\/h3>\n

Because of the important role that the digital dividend can play in rolling out wireless broadband networks, Willenberg said that the release of these frequencies in the shortest possible time must be prioritised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that swift migration to digital broadcasting is critical for the introduction of new services and operators,\u201d Willenberg said.<\/p>\n

We seem to have lost sight of the reality that the speed at which the digital migration progresses will ultimately be dictated by the consumer, Willenberg argued. \u201cThey have to go out and buy the equipment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil they have done that you can\u2019t switch off analogue, and until you switch off analogue you can\u2019t release the dividend,\u201d Willenberg explained.<\/p>\n

However, if the equipment is expensive the uptake will be slow.<\/p>\n

Based on the proposed specification, government has been working on a price of R700 for a set top box – a price which Willenberg said could be significantly reduced if the necessary measures were taken.<\/p>\n

Willenberg said the decisions about which functionality to include in South Africa\u2019s STB specification should be weighed against the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be aiming for a market which offers a range of solutions \u2013 integrated digital TVs, high-end STBs and STBs with more basic functionality. We are not saying that the Rolls Royce of STBs should not be available to those consumers who want to pay for it, but that there is no need for Rolls Royce functionality in the most basic entry-level STB,\u201d Willenberg said.<\/p>\n

STBs are meant to be an interim step, Willenberg said, explaining that they should be replaced by digital tuners built into TV sets similar to the way analogue tuners are built into TVs currently.<\/p>\n

When one considers this, an entry-level STB that will cost R700 isn\u2019t practical when the critical functionality is available at a fraction of the cost, Willenberg said.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h3>\n

Expensive digital TV STBs predicted for SA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Digital TV standards battle in SA: A primer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV standards battle ends: Logic prevails<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV: Connecting the unconnected?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

e.tv set to launch digital TV in 2012<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV set-top boxes: Subsidies and targets<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SA digital TV set-top box factory opened<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV gets firm milestones<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV deadlines at great risk: DoC<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Free-to-air digital TV in SA to be encrypted?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Digital TV: Should free-to-air channels be encrypted?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need keep our eyes on the prize and ensure a speedy migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, says M-Net\u2019s Karen Willenberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":33584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[247,4608,35,6292,5016],"class_list":["post-39823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-digital-dividend","tag-digital-tv-migration","tag-headline","tag-karen-willenberg","tag-m-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39929,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39823\/revisions\/39929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}