Day Two of the CTO Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum 2009 which ran in Johannesburg’s Sandton Sun until 5 February, focused on the progress being made in South Africa’s migration from analogue broadcasting to digital.
Marius du Plessis of SADIBA (Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association) stressed that one of South Africa’s biggest challenges in implementing digital terrestrial television (DTT) is scarcity of frequency. “There are very few spare frequencies currently available to accommodate the two multiplexes required for South Africa’s DTT roll-out. The analogue switch-off in 2011 will free up lots of spectrum.’
Du Plessis also emphasised the need for a leadership role to be taken in the manufacture and distribution of the set top boxes (STBs) required to decode the digital signal. “The manufacture of the boxes is simple but distribution is huge. If we are going to make the 2011 deadline, starting tomorrow 20 000 boxes will have to come off the production line every 2.4 seconds. At the moment the specs for the boxes are still in the process of becoming of national standard. A big question to consider is who is going to place the order for the STBs for South Africa’s 10 million TV households?’
SADIBA chairperson Lynn Mansfield noted that there were some 3,000 STBs in the field being used in the DTT trials. “The purpose of the trials is to sort out any problems with the boxes. There were quite a few disruptions at the beginning of the trials but these problems have been ironed out.’
DTT trials are being conducted in collaboration with the SABC, e.tv, M-Net, Sentech and Orbicom and are taking place in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria, with M-Net conducting a further trial in Cape Town. The trials are on a single frequency network (SFN) and will terminate at the end of July.
Before the commercial launch of DTT can commence, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) will have to issue a Frequency Plan and it will have to award DTT licences to broadcasters.
Dimitri Martinis of newly licensed pay-TV operator On Digital Media gave a hard-hitting and complex presentation on the regulatory challenges that South African broadcasters face and how regulation impacts on the growth of the broadcast industry.
“The danger is that broadcasters might face bungling and bureaucracy on the part of the regulator. What we need are impact assessments on regulatory policy, something that is being done increasingly overseas but not yet in South Africa. We have to question when regulation is needed and why it is needed. If the reason for regulation is to sort out market failure, what happens when the regulator fails? Who steps in then?’
Martinis noted that regulation in South Africa had moved away from broadcasters to new services, networks and content.
See in-depth report in the February issue of Screen Africa.
