|
|
South Africa to switch over to
digital TV, to have more channels
BY A CORRESPONDENT
February 27, 2007
The government of South Africa has
approved a proposal for the digital
signal to be switched on in November
2008, making make way for more
television channels.
The country’s Cabinet also agreed to
the analogue signal being switched off
in November 2011, allowing a
three-year period of dual
broadcasting.
Sufficient frequency spectrum for
broadcasting purposes will be retained
to provide for new television channels
for specialised services that would be
dedicated to education, health, youth,
small and medium enterprises, sports
and three regional service channels.
Analogue broadcasting takes up a lot
of space in the frequency spectrum.
Converting to digital broadcasting
will make allowance for more channels,
according to Albi Modise, a
spokesperson for the Department of
Communications.
“Digital will free up a lot of space
and you can therefore license a lot of
television channels,” he said.
This will make allowance for more
channels targeting language groups
that were previously not catered to.
“For instance, right now, with
analogue, if we wanted to have a
channel that caters to the
Venda-speaking population, we’d be
unable to do that because the
frequency spectrum is full,” Modise
said.
The picture quality of digital
broadcasting is far better than that
of the analogue.
The switchover from analogue to
digital broadcasting is certain to
create a boom in the production
industry because there will be more
demand for content.
Now that the Cabinet has approved the
timetable, the Department of
Communications will hold strategy
meetings with the relevant
stakeholders in PayTV, etc, early in
2007 itself, Modise said.
He would not say how much the
conversion would cost, saying that
this would depend on the final model
for migration. One of the cheaper
models include a set top box, which is
like a decoder and therefore converts
analogue to digital so that old
television sets will still be useful
in the digital age.
The Department of Trade and Industry
will interact with television
manufacturers and retailers to
sensitise them to the conversion.
The government will also hold talks
with the manufacturers on the
possibility of making digital
broadcasting-compliant televisions.
Migration from analogue to digital was
set in motion in 2000 when the
International Telecommunications Union
set the process in motion towards
digital broadcasting.
In South Africa, the switchover from
the analogue to the digital will
impact on South Africa’s ability to
host a successful Fifa World Cup in
2010.
|
