The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is installing 300 low power transmitters around the country to ensure that once South Africa has migrated to digital terrestrial television (DTT) – a process expected to commence next year – its signal will reach 95% of the population.
“These low power transmitters complement the SABC’s existing 179 transmitters which are being converted to carry the digital signal on the DVB-T2 standard adopted by government. Because DVB-T2 is on UHF signal distributor Sentech will have to convert all its VHF transmitters to UHF,’ said SABC chief technology officer Richard Waghorn at the recent Screen Africa Technology + Production Conference in Johannesburg.
Waghorn pointed out that digital migration is a huge consumer change programme that requires public awareness about the switchover and the benefits of DTT. “In the UK consumer education started four years before the switchover commenced on a region to region basis. However, no-one knew the actual date of the analogue signal switch-off until three months before it happened. Therefore it’s advisable for government to only commit to a switchover date once they know for certain when all the deliverables can be implemented. Once that date is confirmed then a simple call to action should be issued, like messages on the TV screen that say: “This analogue signal will be cut off in three weeks.’’
South Africa’s Minister of Communications Roy Padayachie mentioned April 2012 as a possible launch date for DTT in this year’s Budget Vote Speech. There has been no confirmation since then, neither had any consumer education programme been put into place at the time of going to press.
Although the director of the DOC’s Digital Migration Project, Sithembiso Manzini, had been confirmed to present the keynote speech at the Screen Africa Technology + Production Conference, Screen Africa was informed on the night before the conference that Manzini would not be able to speak and that Deputy Minister Obed Bapela would give the presentation instead. The Deputy Minister subsequently cancelled.
Earlier this year the DOC wrote to the Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association (Sadiba), which has been at the forefront of developing specifications for the set top box (STB) required to decode the digital signal, to include control technology within the box to ensure that the STB will not work if it crosses South Africa’s borders.
Sadiba deputy chair Dave Hagen noted at the conference that about 1.2million TV households in South Africa on VHF will probably need new antennas. “Thirty-five percent of South Africa’s current viewers – there are an estimated 11 million TV households in the country – will either need new antennas or modifications to their existing antennas.
“There is lots of focus from the DOC to get ready for DTT. In the meantime the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) may change the DTT regulations slightly to accommodate DVB-T2 as they were originally written for the first generation DVB-T.
“By March 2012 Sentech will have achieved 74% coverage on DVB-T2 so it is progressing well. At the moment the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) is re-writing the STB specifications for DVB-T2 and to incorporate high definition (HD). We hope that this process will be completed within two months. Once the specs are approved it takes nine months to get the STB from specs stage to the manufacturing stage so Sadiba foresees that the STBs will be in retail in May or June next year.
“We regard the government’s deadline of December 2013 as a pipe dream for the switch-off of the analogue signal. The typical migration time for the rest of the world is six years.’
In closing Hagen revealed “The 6 Cs’ necessary to ensure successful migration:
1. Content (the DTT offering must be appealing enough to warrant the purchase of STBs)
2. Cost (the price of STBs)
3. Conformance (all decoders must be tested to specification before going into retail)
4. Coverage (a fixed outdoor network)
5. Communication (inform and educate the public) and
6. Consumer support (providing STB installation assistance to those households that need it).
