The department of communications original, unilateral and foolhardy decision, now compounded by the department of communication's daft, unwise and misguided decision to lodge an appeal, will further delay South Africa's switch-over to digital terrestrial television (DTT), a process known as digital migration.
This process is many years behind schedule and has made South Africa the laughing stock of the continent as the country gets passed by country after country switching to digital broadcasting as South Africa remains mired in litigation, delays, constantly changing regulations, a government not properly spearheading the switch-over and industry infighting.
The ongoing, multiple delays - and now the ongoing, protracted battle over who controls the conditional access (CA) system or encryption system within the set-top boxes (STB's) which all TV households in South Africa will have to buy, could delay the country's implementation of digital migration by up to another three years if the stakeholders do not resolve the issue.
Monday's meeting between the department of communications and the SABC and e.tv centred around trying to find ways to deliver STB's to the market as well as to create jobs around it in 2013.
The department of communications have an over-emphasis on the process of digital migration as a job creation driver, instead of the user-experience for TV viewers and enabling the smoothest transition in the switch-over from analogue to digital TV watching.
That is also why the CA system exists in the first place - safeguard the manufacturing of STB manufacturing in South Africa and enabling the switch-off of decoders if they leave South African borders - as well as preventing the "illegal" import of STB's not manufactured locally in South Africa.
Other countries simply do not bother with this, but South Africa's government is obsessed with enlarging the STB manufacturing industry, setting its own standards for set-top boxes and creating and growing a niche market for a product already manufactured elsewhere in the world better - and in many instances, cheaper.
South Africa will be the only country in the world where free-to-air public television under a digital terrestrial television dispensation comes with a coded and encrypted broadcasting system - forced in as to be the "lock and key" to protect STB manufacturers and STB manufacturing in South Africa.
The department of communication's appeal against the South Gauteng High Court's decision also has an impact on the tender process for STB's. That can't go ahead and is now further stalled because of the ongoing litigation.
The department of communications now says that it "is committed to engaging the industry" and that it is looking for proposals from the broadcasters such as the SABC and e.tv.
It is highly ironic that the department of communications wants proposals from e.tv, given that the department of communications caused the mess in the first place and is keep causing and compounding the problem with the ongoing court fight against e.tv.
The department of communications says it wants to ensure that "the set-top box manufacturing tender, which is affected by the high court decision, is finalised without delay".
