A new era for television is in motion, with broadcast “migration” from analogue to a digital system due to take place later this year.<\/p>\n
South Africans will experience a revolutionary change in television broadcasting for the first time since its national launch in 1976.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“It is a worldwide initiative of the International Telecommunication Union to see this migration from analogue to digital.”<\/p>\n
Calvo Mawela, a member of Digital Dzonga, the body overseeing broadcast migration, said the digital system provided better picture quality than analogue.<\/p>\n
“It is also spectrum-efficient, and six to eight services could be accommodated,” he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The digital system will run parallel to the current analogue system for three years.<\/p>\n
The analogue system will be switched off in November 2011.<\/p>\n
Analogue television sets can still be used after the analogue system is switched off, provided that owners buy a set top box (STB).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
The STB has two purposes, one of which is to make the switch from analogue to digital possible.<\/p>\n
“The other dimension of the box is that it allows interactivity between the consumer and broadcaster,” Modise said.<\/p>\n
It would also allow the public broadcaster to track consumers who do not have a valid television licence.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n