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Digital broadcasting migration project, South Africa

3rd July 2015

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name and Location
Digital broadcasting migration project, South Africa.

Client
The Department of Communications (DoC) and Sentech.

Project Description
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) is the implementation of digital technology to provide more channels and/or better picture quality and sound using a conventional television antenna or aerial, instead of a satellite dish or cable connection.

In 2005, State-owned enterprise Sentech announced its plans to roll out DTT using digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T) technology, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Initially, there will be two DVB-T transmitters for each location or site.

The first phase of the project involves upgrading the Sentech broadcast network and duplicating the current analogue network channels on a digital system.

Most of the 220 sites needed to broadcast DTT to 92% of South Africa's population are in place, but have to be upgraded to become fully digital. Once that process has been completed, DTT and analogue systems will run simultaneously (a dual-illumination process) until South Africa is ready to switch off analogue transmission. This decision will be made by government.

Consumers will require a set-top box (STB) to decode the signal, even for public broadcasting and free-to-air channels. The STBs are expected to be subsidised.

Once the migration to DTT is complete, the country will no longer have exclusive use of the frequencies.

Value
The upgrade is expected to cost R1-billion.

Supplying the STBs will cost an estimated R2.45-billion.

Duration
According to an agreement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the country has until 2015 to complete the migration.

Latest Developments
The Gauteng High Court ruled against broadcaster e.tv in its challenge of government’s decision not to encrypt set-top boxes for digital broadcasts in June.

Judge WRC Prinsloo dismissed the case and ordered that e.tv also pay the costs of the respondents. The respondents included Communications Minister Faith Muthambi.

In the judgment, which spans about 100 pages, Prinsloo said that he saw no basis for an argument that Muthambi misunderstood the effect of the encryption amendment.

"The Minister stated that she studied and considered all the written submissions made, including those dealing with encryption," the judgment reads.

"She consulted a variety of roleplayers," Prinsloo said.

e.tv’s application in the High Court sought to “review aspects of the Broadcasting Digital Migration policy finalised by the Minister of Communications”.

STBs will decode digital television signals for analogue television sets when South Africa's broadcast migration process is completed.

In March, the Department of Communications amended the Broadcasting Digital Migration policy in its first provision to ensure that STBs would not be capable of encrypting broadcast signals for subsidised boxes for up to five-million poorer households.

The department also amended the policy in a second provision to include that an STB control system would also be nonmandatory. e.tv challenged this decision by asking that the first provision be set aside and that the second provision be amended.

At the time, e.tv highlighted that its reasoning for the challenge included that it wanted to encrypt its signal to “prevent noncompliant STBs from receiving digital broadcast signals, thereby ensuring a uniform and reliable viewer experience”.

The company also said that “without a fully conformant platform, broadcasters, such as e.tv, would in tfuture likely be unable to provide broadcasts in high definition”.

e.tv’s loss in the case could open the way for South Africa’s digital migration process to start. The process has already been delayed by years and South Africa officially missed a key international digital migration deadline  on June 17, before all protection on the analogue television signals are lifted, leaving television viewers open to frequency disruptions and signal interference.

However, despite South Africa missing deadline for the DTT migration, Muthambi has assured that there will be no broadcasting disruptions.

The Minister has assured that much of the immediate risk, which will emerge from outside the country’s borders, has been minimised through several agreements and engagements with neighbouring countries.

The engagements aim to harmonise the use of radio-frequency spectrum as the countries undergo digital migration to ensure that there will be no cross interference, without any major negative impact on the respective analogue television services.

Agreements of cooperation have been signed with Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique, while agreements with Namibia and Zimbabwe are being finalised.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
South Africa officially missed a key international digital migration deadline  on June 17.

Contact Details for Project Information
DoC media liaison officer Siya Qoza, tel +27 12 427 8511.
Sentech, tel +27 11 691 7000.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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