by Thinus Ferreira
The South African government has spent over R12 billion on the "unmitigated disaster" that is the country's switch-over process from analogue to digital TV and will be forced to once again postpone the cut-off date at the end of this month since 469 000 households still need a free decoder and installation while many others who don't qualify must buy one.
While not a cent was budgeted for 2025 for South Africa's over-run and extremely costly and wasteful digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process, Solly Malatsi - South Africa's 12th minister of communications still dealing with the incomplete issue - will very likely have to postpone the latest deadline of 31 December 2024 yet again.
It's not clear where the millions of rand will come from for next year to continue with dual illumination - the process of broadcasting the analogue and digital signals of TV broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv and community TV stations like Cape Town TV (CTV) - as well as to install set-top boxes (STBs) for poor households currently gathering dust in locked South African Post Office storerooms and Sentech warehouses.
A shocking 469 000 poor TV households - many with incomplete and outdated contact details - must get their government-subsidised STBs installed for free before the end of this month. Practically, this is an impossible task.
Besides poor households who qualify for a box, there are many more so-called "missing middle" TV households who must pay for a STB but don't see the urgency or need, might not have the money and can't even buy one since STB are not actually even available in commercial retail. These people must get either MultiChoice's DStv, or eMedia's Openview satellite TV services to switch from analogue to digital.
South Africa is ticking ever closer to having missed the international deadline to complete the switch from analogue to digital TV ... by a decade. The international deadline to which South Africa agreed was June 2015.
Since then the South African government has spent billions of rand and will miss its own deadline - constantly postponed - yet again when 31 December 2024 becomes 1 January 2025.
The government has spent far over R12 billion and pays between R130 million to R160 million per year for dual illumination. There is no money budgeted for this must-pay expense from 1 January.
The SABC, e.tv and community TV channels all want another extension of the 31 December cut-of date.
If they suddenly lose millions of TV viewers who lose their analogue TV signals without being able to watch TV further, they lose viewership - something immediately picked up by the South Africa's TV ratings system gathering and compiling TV ratings daily.
When broadcaster's viewership plunges, they have to adjust their advertising rate cards, charging less for ad spots due to fewer viewers. This will have a devastating impact on their revenue, especially the already crippled SABC.
Besides revenue, viewers will lose access to news and public information services, again damaging the SABC.
The SABC asked the department of communications and digital technologies for a deadline extension of another 12 months to 31 December 2025. It's not clear what extension of the deadline eMedia requested and eMedia declined to say in response to a media query when it was asked.
The SABC says its planned satellite TV service with SABC TV channels as an internet-enabled and connected decoder, will target this "missing middle" TV households, similar to the millions of households who have made a once-off payment to buy eMedia's Openview satellite service.
There remain 174 analogue transmitters across the country's most populated four provinces which must be switched off at the end of this month in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
When these transmitters are switched off in these provinces - collectively representing more than half of South Africa's total population - millions of viewers will be wiped from the TV ratings system and lose television signal access.
Khusela Diko, chairperson of the portfolio committee for communications and digital technologies, told parliament that she doesn't "want to be called alarmist but I think this issue is really an unmitigated disaster".
