South Africa’s Department of Communications (DoC) is set to publish the final Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) policy in the Government Gazette before 20 March. The new policy seeks to clarify the use of control systems in set-top boxes (STBs) that will enable households to switch from analogue to digital broadcast signals. This is according to a report in Telecompaper.
The report revealed that DoC management presented the country’s state of readiness to migrate from analogue to Digital Broadcasting to a Joint Portfolio Committee on Communication and Telecommunications and Postal Services in Parliament on 10 March.
The Department’s Acting Director-General, Donald Liphoko attributed the delay in digital migration to disagreements about the use of a control system in STBs, which some free-to-air broadcasters had suggested would negatively impact on their content. According to Solly Mokoetle, DTT Programme Head, the government has assured Parliament that Cabinet’s endorsement of the inclusion of a control system aims to protect its multi-billion rand investment in the STBs from use outside of South Africa and that broadcasters who seek conditional access related to encryption of their broadcast content may do so at their own cost.
According to the report, the department has already begun engaging entities on aligning plans to the Cabinet approved policy. Sentech is almost ready to distribute a digital signal, while the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is gearing up to provide universal service coverage and new channels. The government will provide free STBs to more than 5 million poor householdss and prioritize distribution to border regions areas of the country to avoid and minimise signal interference with neighbouring countries.
Staff Writer
