{"id":552033,"date":"2007-04-16T22:54:27","date_gmt":"2007-04-16T22:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/552033-the-big-switchover.html"},"modified":"2007-04-16T22:54:27","modified_gmt":"2007-04-16T22:54:27","slug":"the-big-switchover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/552033-the-big-switchover.html","title":{"rendered":"The big switchover"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU, of which SA is a member) has set an international deadline of 17 June 2015 for the switch from analogue to digital signal distribution. <\/font><\/p>\n

"Our country intends to beat that target date," Department of Communications (DoC) Director-General <\/font>Lyndall Shope-Mafole<\/font> said in a recent statement. <\/font><\/p>\n

The big switchover in SA is set for November 2008, with a three-year "dual illumination" (as approved by Cabinet earlier this year), during which both analogue and digital signals would be transmitted. <\/font><\/p>\n

Shope-Mafole said that was essential "to ensure that the public has some time to acquire set top boxes that would enable the continued use of current analogue TV sets. Otherwise it would be necessary to buy digital-ready TV sets". <\/font><\/p>\n

So if you’re thinking of buying a new TV because your local dealership is offering fantastic specials, bear this in mind: you’ll be buying technology that will soon become obsolete (like a Beta video machine in the days when VHS was becoming the pervasive technology). <\/font><\/p>\n

If you own an analogue TV, which most of us do, don’t panic. You’ll either have to buy a set top box (decoder) – which Government reckons on its Digital Migration website would retail at around R400 – before November 2011 or buy a digital-ready TV to be compatible with the big switchover late next year. <\/font><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a number of things are playing out. The regulatory landscape is being changed to accommodate the new digital dispensation and the process for getting there is being put in place. That will include consultation with the relevant industry role players. Last month, the DoC released an implementation plan put together by its Digital Migration Working Group and invited industry comment. <\/font><\/p>\n

One recommendation was that there should be a "hold" on the licensing of new subscription TV players until after digital migration had been completed. Against the backdrop of regulator Icasa already having invited prospective new licensees to apply, that caused consternation in the industry. <\/font><\/p>\n

But although the DoC subsequently released a statement by Shope-Mafole confirming that it had no intention of railroading Icasa’s licensing process, some industry players used their responses to further criticise the proposal. <\/font><\/p>\n

One pay-TV licence applicant – Telkom’s aspirant media company Telkom Media – said any such moratorium wouldn’t only be illegal but also "irrational and arbitrary" and "procedurally unfair". <\/font><\/p>\n

Icasa plans public hearings on the applications for May this year and could award licences as early as July. Telkom Media said, if successful, it would be ready to sign subscribers and start earning revenue from that "within a relatively short time" – so any delays would "severely affect its rights and expectations". <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom has a track record of being highly litigious. However, it hasn’t taken Icasa to court for some time. Chief corporate affairs manager Mandla Ngcobo says that’s indicative of a new strategic focus on more amicable stakeholder relations. <\/font><\/p>\n

Even so, you wonder how long Telkom would sit back and watch any regulatory bungling preventing it from adding revenue streams while competitive forces increasingly applied pressure. <\/font><\/p>\n

Other applicants would probably be similarly impatient. Any delays would clearly benefit the incumbent MultiChoice, which is a Naspers subsidiary. <\/font><\/p>\n

M-Net said in its response to the DoC report that it supported plans for a swift migration to digital, but those capable of moving to digital sooner should be allowed to. And existing licensees should be entitled to sufficient spectrum to enable them to have coverage at least commensurate with the current analogue service. <\/font><\/p>\n

But M-Net says it’s "strongly opposed" to the DoC’s proposal that free-to-air and subscription services should share a frequency network. <\/font><\/p>\n

The closing date for comment was initially 5 April, but DoC communications head Albi Modise says the deadline has been extended by another week. So while it was possible to access some responses, others had still not been made public at the time of writing. <\/font><\/p>\n

Shope-Mafole said migrating to digital would give broadcasters the capacity to provide a greater diversity of services, particularly broadcasting in all South African languages, to ensure that the country had a higher degree of local content. <\/font><\/p>\n

Other benefits of digital migration include the more efficient use of the scarce radio spectrum, the ability to add a number of channels, improve quality (enabling you to move to high definition TV), broadcast over other devices and carry voice, data and video simultaneously. <\/font><\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n

Finweek<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

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AS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES, South Africa is planning to migrate from analogue to digital television. But as anyone who has observed the broader information and communication technology environment over the past few years will know, most things tend to take longer than first predicted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"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":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552033"}],"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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}