With only 5 million STBs that will be subsidized by the South African government in a country where there's many millions more TV households, a new DTT crisis is clearly looming. It means that millions of TV households will not be able to make the switch-over to DTT, or won't want to, or won't do it fast enough because they won't be able to afford it.
At a press conference in Sunninghill the deputy minister of communications Obed Bapela said adequate policies need to be put in place to determine whether a TV household will quality for a STB subsidy. Previously the government has stated that an amount of R780 million has been allocated to subsidise STBs to help fund the cost of DTT receivers for low-income families. The government previously said it will subsidise up to 70% of the STB cost which is expected to be about R700 to R800 per STB.
So far the department of communications has failed to say exactly how they subsidy process will work, whether new aerials/antennas will be included in the subsidy, and have not yet started the process of appointing manufacturers to even make the STBs which the industry and broadcasters actually want to be available by April 2012. It takes a minimum of 3 to 4 months to manufacture once specifications are approved.
