e.tv to court again to demand further extension in South Africa's digital TV switch-over with 'devastating impact' warning for country's TV ratings

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's umbrella TV broadcasters, together with organisations supporting public broadcasting, are back in court demanding the government push out the analogue TV signal switch-off deadline date looming at the end of March, warning about the "devastating impact" and the loss of a third of the country's total public TV audience overnight.

The SABC, e.tv and community TV stations collectively face the existential danger of the overnight loss of millions of viewers on 1 April when their ratings will plunge and with that their precious ad income.

The SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) - organisations that lobby for the protection of public broadcasting - have now come on board and filed an affidavit in court supporting eMedia's e.tv that says it has once again been forced to go to court over the imminent switch-off date.

They say South African television risks losing almost a third of the entire remaining public access TV viewing audience overnight if analogue signals are cut in two months' time.

South Africa's last deadline date for the switch-off of analogue TV signals in the country's long-delayed digital migration process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) was 31 December 2024.

Last month, in another last-minute scramble, Solly Malatsi, minister of communications and digital technologies, hastily announced that the switch-off date would once again be pushed out by another three months to the end of March 2025.

But even these three months are not enough of a reprieve for the SABC, e.tv and community TV stations like Cape Town TV (CTV).

No money was budgeted for the DTT process beyond the end of last year and it is unclear where the department, parastatal signal distributor Sentech and others, will find the money for the current three-month extension that will cost millions more.

It costs the government and Sentech between R130 million to R160 million per year to transmit the same TV signal - for instance SABC1 or SABC3 - as both an analogue and a DTT signal, a process known as dual illumination.

Solly Malatsi is South Africa's 12th minister of communications and digital technologies overseeing the morass of the country's failed DTT migration process that has cost the country already over R12 billion over the past 10 years.

Last year the SABC told the department of communications and digital technologies that the public broadcaster would like the deadline to be extended by another year to the end of 2025. 

eMedia running the country's only commercial TV broadcaster e.tv didn't specify a specific extension date and said it isn't against the DTT process but that more time and a reasonable switch-off extension is required.

Now e.tv is once again taking the government to court over the disastrous DTT process and the latest deadline. 

The broadcaster already took the department to court previously and won in the Constitutional Court in 2022 over the DTT switch-off deadline.

Three years ago the court declared the then minister of communications' deadline of 30 June 2022 unconstitutional and recognised the massively adverse impact the switch-off then would have had on the public and the broadcasters.

Massive TV audience loss risk

On Friday SOS and MMA joined e.tv's latest court fight and lodged an affidavit at the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria, saying that although there's been yet another three-month DTT switch-off extension, that it is still not enough time to avert a South African public broadcasting disaster.

According to the groups' affidavit, the premature analogue signals switch-off on 31 March on the public, public broadcasting the SABC, community TV channels and e.tv would have a "devastating impact".

The groups are also upset about MMA and SOS "exclusion from regular consultations with broadcasters".

SOS and MMA note that if the government and Sentech were to flip the switches across the remaining provinces and kill analogue TV signals on 31 March 2025, "Poor and marginalised communities will be cut off from free-to-air television thus denying their right to access to information".

What will follow will be an immediate "Loss of advertising and sponsorship revenue for the SABC" with the groups warning that "The free-to-air audience will diminish from 55.1% of television household population to 26.6% of television household population". 

That will be 28.5% of the free-to-air audience - almost a third of South Africa's remaining public  TV audience that contribute to South Africa's television ratings - which will be gone overnight. 

"We are hoping that the High Court rules in the public interest as the Constitutional Court did in 2022," the groups say.

"We are also hopeful that the government will reconsider and postpone the analogue switch-off date of 31 March 2025 to ensure a proper roll-out of the set-top boxes (STBs) so that no South African

is left without access to television."

Battle to just get boxes

There are millions more South African TV households who either haven't had their free set-box box (STB) installed yet by the government as well as the "missing middle" who earn more than R3 500 and must buy one - although none exist in retail - and must still make the switch.

A shocking 467 000 poor households who have registered for the government-subsidised set-top boxes have not yet had these installed, with STBs gathering dust in locked South African Post Offices and Sentech warehouses.

This is also just the number of households the government is aware of and appears on its outdated database list. 

The department of communications and digital technologies has no idea how many people and TV households exist who are still making use of analogue TV and must pay to buy some type of bridging solution like MultiChoice's DStv, eMedia's Openview, a new DTT-enabled flatscreen TV set or some type of other STB.

This is also why the SABC wants to start its own satellite TV service, similar to Openview, to offer a type of pay-once solution to the "missing middle" to switch from analogue viewing to getting the SABC TV channels and radio stations through a decoder. 

The SABC says there are millions of these viewers in South Africa - TV households still on analogue who must pay for a STB but don't see the urgency or understand the need.

While e.tv refused to go along, kept its analogue signals on and was largely spared the devastating consequences of audience loss, the SABC that initially kept quiet and went along as the government turned its signals off in province after province over the past three years, saw its audience reach and ratings steadily diminish – something that the public has since called "devastating" and a "disaster".

Around 174 analogue transmitters across South Africa's most populated provinces - Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape - are still on.

Collectively these four provinces' TV households represent more than half of South Africa's total population.

In the vast majority of cases, one "TV household" on the country's TV ratings system (TAMS) has multiple viewers. 

Depriving these TV households of their TV access will immediately wipe them - and the programmes they watch - from being counted towards the overnight audience ratings of shows ranging from Uzalo on SABC1, Muvhango on SABC2 and Scandal! on e.tv.

Besides viewers cut off from TV news, current affairs and other educational programming, lower ratings will force broadcasters like the SABC and e.tv to immediately lower ad fees on their rate cards, which will lead to lower ad income, and lower overall revenue.

The same goes for community TV channels like CTV and others already fighting an uphill battle with exorbitant signal transmission fees.

The struggling SABC is already technically insolvent and battling an ongoing trend of multi-year traditional TV ratings erosion and can ill afford a massive audience plunge.

244 000 poor South African TV households still waiting on their digital terrestrial TV installation and government set-top box.

by Thinus Ferreira

Close to a quarter million poor South African TV households are still waiting for their subsidised digital terrestrial television (DTT) decoders to be installed South Africa's minister of communications and digital technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, revealed at a media briefing on Thursday afternoon.

Eleven years behind schedule, South Africa's government is still trying to complete the country's long-overdue switch from analogue to digital terrestrial TV, a process known as digital migration.

While the South African government and the parastatal TV signal distributor Sentech have started to switch off analogue transmission signal towers in several provinces - something that has damaged the TV ratings of the SABC over the past year - eMedia's e.tv has refused to do so, taking the communications department to the Constitutional Court and demanding that the process be delayed until more free-to-air TV households have access to DTT instead of simply being cut off from public television in South Africa.

The outcome of the court case in which e.tv has been victorious over the department, has seen the analogue switch-off deadline of 30 June 2022 pushed out further to an undetermined date.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that the new final date for households to register to receive a free DTT STB is now 30 September 2022, and hasn't declared a new final switch-off date.

On Thursday afternoon Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, at a DTT press briefing, said that 244 000 DTT installations still need to be done for indigent TV households earning less than R3 500 per month and who qualify for a free DTT set-top box (STB) decoder.

The 244 000 include TV households in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape who had their installations delayed due to adverse weather and flooding halting the process.

Between April and July this year there have been an average of 15 288 registrations from TV households applying for the government-subsidised STB, with the number of registrations declining.

"The total number of new registered households between April and July 2022 now stands at 61 155 and this translates to an average of 15 288 registrations per month - therefore, representing a decline in set-top-box applications and registrations," she said.

"The digital migration process is a national priority, and it must be completed without any further delay for the benefit of the country," Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said.

CTV warns: Millions of South African viewers to lose free TV access in government's rushed switch-off plan.

by Thinus Ferreira

Cape Town TV (CTV) is joining the chorus of extremely concerned voices warning about the South African government's suddenly-rushed plan to switch off all analogue TV signals in the country at the end of the month, warning that millions of viewers will lose their TV access and that it will damage free-to-air television and TV ratings.

It comes as e.tv's case against the government's switch-off date will be heard in the Pretoria high court on Monday and Tuesday 14 and 15 March.

After South Africa's minister of communications and digital technologies Khumbudzo Ntshavheni suddenly switched to an aggressive province-by-province analogue TV signals switch-off schedule in 2021 - with the digital migration process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) now envisioned to end by 31 March - free-to-air TV ratings have started to fall as broadcasters lose viewers who haven't switched to set-top boxes (STBs) or new TV sets, and affecting ad rates.

After Sentech's analogue transmission towers for the SABC were switched off in the Free State - the first province to lose analogue television signals - TV viewers of the public broadcaster in 2021 plunged by a fifth (20%), with the SABC losing almost half of its TV audience (46%) in the Northern Cape and 34% of its TV ratings in the North West after those provinces lost their analogue transmissions.

eMedia took the decision to take the government to court to postpone the pronounced cut-off date of 31 March, with the case which will be heard today and tomorrow in the Pretoria high court.

Civil society groups like the Right2Know Campaign warn that the government is going to leave millions of ordinary South Africans without television access after 31 March and unable to get news, information and education programming.

In a statement, the department of communications and digital technologies says it "has noted with concern the misinformation and false claims that there is a pending loss of free-to-air television in South Africa".

"The misinformation seeks to create unnecessary anxiety about the end of dual illumination period and the gazetted analogue switch-off date of 31 March 2022. The claim that 14 million South Africans are going to lose free-to-air television on 31st March 2022 are preponderous at best and a figment of imagination at worst."

The department says poor households earning less than R3500 per month who applied for a government-subsidised STB by 31 October 2021 "will be connected before the switch-off and those who applied after the cut-off date will be connected within 3 to 6 months of the analogue switch-off date".

SA 'ill-prepared for analogue TV switch-off'

Like e.tv, the community TV station Cape Town TV says it is fighting to keep its analogue broadcast signal on-air "as the country stumbles towards the end of analogue TV transmission".

CTV says many of its current free-to-air viewers will lose access to the channel on 31 March since there are "too few digital TV receivers in the market".

"Our research shows that South Africans are very ill-prepared for the switch-off," says Karen Thorne, CTV station director.

"This presents a serious problem for all free-to-air broadcasters on the DTT platform. This is why e.tv is suing the government to postpone the analogue switch-off and its legal documents include community TV broadcasters as affected parties."

She says poor households who register to get an STB will still have to wait "many months before you get the device".

"Most of the existing government stocks have been earmarked for the 1.3 million people who have already registered and there is no telling when more will be available. The global chip shortage is a complicating factor that will extend the wait."

Millions of viewers to lose TV access

Karen Thorne says "We are certain that millions of South Africans are going to lose access to television if the analogue switch-off takes place as scheduled at the end of March".

"We know that less than half of the government decoders have been installed nationally and there are few decoders available for those who do not qualify for the subsidised devices. The major retail stores don't stock them so you have to find one at a specialist retailer or online supplier."

"We don't know how many digital TV sets with integrated tuners are out there, but we do know from the Broadcasting Research Council (BRC) that the proportion of television households that only receive free-to-air television stands at around 5.6 million."

"Multiply that figure by an average of 2.5 people in a TV household and that gives you an estimate of 14 million affected people. Many of these viewers are going to find themselves without television on April Fool's Day if analogue signals are switched off, particularly in the cities."

She says that a significant loss of audience will be tough on free-to-air broadcasters and could even be catastrophic for community TV channels like Cape Town TV.

"But the woes of the community TV sector don't end there - SA’s community television stations are being forced to shift from their local focus to become provincial broadcasters."

"While the expansion of broadcast footprints will bring more potential viewers into the ambit of community TV activities, it poses significant challenges for community broadcasters."

"For one thing, it dramatically increases transmission costs because many more transmitters must be hired from the national signal distributor, Sentech."

"CTV's signal distribution costs will rise from R60 000 a month to R1.8 million a month - an increase of 2900%," she says.

"We have been raising this issue with the government for many years but nothing has been done on the policy front to address this problem."

Rush to sell spectrum damaging SA TV

Karen Thorne says "The prime driver for the analogue switch-off is the auction of frequency spectrum to cellular operators, which has just taken place. Cape Town TV operates on the frequency 559.25 MHz, which is not a part of the digital dividend, so postponing switching it off will not disrupt the spectrum auction and the allocation of frequencies to bidders in that market."

"We have asked Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to postpone the analogue switch-off for this frequency so that the dual illumination period is extended for Cape Town TV. This will enable us to continue reaching Capetonians until such time as there is a reasonable business case for CTV to exist in a sustainable fashion on the DTT network."

CTV says it has joined the #SaveFreeTV movement launched by civil society organisations concerned that the government's scheduled analogue switch-off date of 31 March will deprive millions of South Africans from access to television due to the shortage of DTT receivers.

"CTV shares the concerns that e.tv and the #SaveFreeTV campaign are raising to postpone the analogue-switch-off in the major population areas until there is an adequate base of free-to-air viewers on DTT."

Karen Thorne says the South African government is "not paying attention to the fate of free-to-air television after the analogue switch-off in its rush to sell-off frequency spectrum to the cellular operators".

"We understand that the SABC saw a 30% drop-off in viewership in the Free State after its transmitters were switched off in that province. Even this level of viewership loss will hit community channels hard, but they are likely to lose even higher proportions as their lower-income audiences scramble to find viewing options."

"We want to see an orderly, well-managed and realistic process of migrating people to DTT," she says.

"This needs more time than is presently being allowed and the government must engage in a constructive fashion with all stakeholders to ensure that this happens successfully."

After 3-year break with digital migration Nigeria says the country is restarting its switch-over process, plans to complete DTT transition by end of 2022.

by Thinus Ferreira

After a 3-year break during which nothing happened, Nigeria's government now plans to resume its digital migration process to move the country from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, with the West African country that now says it plans to complete Nigeria's switch by the end of 2022.

Professor Armstrong Idachaba, acting director-general of Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), says that the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) project will be completed by the end of 2022 when the country will fully shift from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

"Nigeria has taken a decision that we are continuing with the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The journey practically began in 2016 with the pilot rollout in Jos and a few years after, we have gone into phase two," says Professor Armstrong Idachaba.

"Under phase two, Lagos, Port Harcourt and other cities will be switched on to digital TV. We are going to many other cities and following the rollout time table, we hope that by the end of 2022, we would have completed the digital rollout in Nigeria."

Professor Armstrong Idachaba.is correct that Nigeria stated its digital migration process in Jos, Plateau State in 2016, followed by Abuja, Kwara, Kaduna, and Enugu - but the process then ground to a halt in Osogbo in February 2018.

After what appears to be a three-year break, blamed in part on a lack of political will and financial constraints, the launch will now resume in the country’s big cities, notably Lagos, with a completion date of the middle of 2022.

Nigeria, like South Africa and several other African countries, have missed the original deadline that was set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for completion of the switchover process that was meant to happen in June 2015.

South Africa's long-stalled DTT switch-over process has been marred the past decade and counting by corruption, constantly changing DTT standards, court cases and incompetent ministers of communications changing annually.

ALSO READ: South Africa's TV ratings system and broadcasters risk damage in new monthly analogue TV hard switch-off approach as signal transmitters are shut down in provinces before all viewers have switched to DTT or received set-top boxes.

South Africa's TV ratings system and broadcasters risk damage in new monthly analogue TV hard switch-off approach as signal transmitters are shut down in provinces before all viewers have switched to DTT or received set-top boxes.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's TV ratings system risks getting damaged by the government's hard switch-off approach of analogue TV signal transmitters in communities across South Africa, which could leave millions of TV households without television access who haven't switched to digital terrestrial television (DTT) and who haven't received a free government set-top box (STB) or can't buy one.

It is estimated that there are more than 3 million South African TV households who are still on the analogue television platform.

These 3 million analogue TV households - in a new staggered monthly cut-off approach - are set to lose access to their TV signal over the next 9 months, with the process that could inflict damage to South Africa's TV ratings system and the so-called "TV households universe".

As a country South Africa has the most credible TV ratings system on the African continent for compiling daily, weekly and monthly viewership numbers for broadcasters and advertisers.

South Africa's TV rating system is the envy of other African markets where broadcasters, international TV channel distributors and advertisers are often forced to operate in the dark and have to make best-estimated guesses based on parsing other related marketing data and research in the absence of similarly comprehensive ratings data.

Now the credibility of the numbers-crunching used to compile ratings data for South African TV viewership is under threat after the country's department of communications and digital technologies have published a new list of analogue TV transmitters in various provinces being switched off, and that has started in the Free State this week.

The big issue is that the department - that is more than a decade late in completing the digital migration process from analogue to digital terrestrial television in South Africa - is now switching off analogue signals in succession in provinces but before all analogue viewers have actually switched over to digital TV. 

That will wipe an as yet undetermined number of TV viewers every month from now on from the total TV universe on which the current TV ratings metric is based and that is tallied using installed People Meters in homes across the country.

Meanwhile millions of DTT set-top boxes are gathering dust in South African Post Office warehouses that haven't been distributed to qualifying poorest households, with many more TV households who don't qualify for a free one and who have to spend their own money to buy an STB or new digital-signal enabled TV set.

Hard switch-off approach

The department's original digital migration plan stated that analogue transmitters won't be switched off before all viewers haven't been migrated to DTT successfully. The department has now switched to a "hard switch-off" approach where TV households simply lose access if they haven't switched and transmitters are switched off.

With the long-drawn-out process, the department and minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, are under huge pressure to complete the DTT migration in order to make the dividend of frequencies available after the switch away from analogue TV for things like next-generation mobile data systems like 5G.

The Broadcasting Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) as the custodian body of the country's TV ratings system hasn't yet responded to a media enquiry made earlier this week seeking comment about the potential impact on South Africa's TAMS and how the ratings system is going to be impacted.

Analogue viewers who don't have access to digital TV are who are getting cut off monthly will have to be removed from the existing TV universe data as well.

It's unclear how the BRCSA will have to change or adjust the existing TV universe when analogue-only TV households start to disappear and lose access to television in the real world.

Free-to-air broadcasters like the SABC with its SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 channels, and eMedia Investments with its free-to-air commercial channel e.tv, are likely to be impacted the most if they have to adjust advertising rate cards to lower 30 second-ad spot pricing if ratings are lowered because the existing TV universe shrinks.

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on Tuesday in a statement revealed the new timeline for analogue signals to be cut and said that "it is anticipated that this process, which will be done province-by-province, will be completed by the end of March 2022".

On Monday the analogue TV signal was switched off in Boesmanskop and surrounding towns like Vanstadensrus, Zastron and Rouxville in the Xhariep District Municipality in the Eastern Free State near the Lesotho border.

That was followed on Tuesday by Ladybrand and the surrounding towns like Hobhouse, Tweespruit and Clocolan all losing their analogue TV signal. People who haven't switched to digital TV - mostly the poor people in rural communities - now have no access to television.

According to the department, the switch-off plans are to end analogue signals in the Free State by end of March 2021, Northern Cape by end of April 2021, Northern Cape by end of April 2021, the North West, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape provinces by end of May 2021, Kwa-Zulu Natal by end of July 2021, the Western Cape by end of November 2021, Limpopo by end of December 2021, and finally Gauteng by end of January 2022.

"The department is collaborating with provincial governments and district municipalities to recruit local installers of government-subsided decoders in order to accelerate the implementation of the broadcasting digital migration," said Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams in the statement.

Poor households with a combined household income of less than R3 200 can get a free set-top box.

TV households who do not qualify for free government decoders have to buy an STB or an integrated digital television (IDTV) set that has DTT decoding capability built-in.

Digital television in South Africa could get rid of cumbersome and artificial, 'mandatory' set-top box control mechanism; plan to be reviewed.

Sanity appears to finally have come to the South African government and the country's protracted and long-delayed digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch-over, with the government which could soon decide to rather get rid of the highly contentious and bitterly contested set-top box (STB) control-mechanism the government unilaterally forced to be built into new digital TVdecoders for public television.

The minister of communications, Dina Pule, today told parliament that the department of communications will now review the decision which the government forced onto South Africa's TV broadcasting industry - a means of encoding and in effect cutting off public TV signals and making it possible to lock out STB's.

South Africa's long-delayed switch-over to DTT, a process known as digital migration, has partly been stalled because of acrimony, in-fighting, drawn-out regulatory debates and court cases over set-top box control, the set-top box control mechanism and who should control it.

It happened because the switch to DTT - in which the viewer and the ordinary South African television viewer's TV watching experience should be paramount for the switch and adoption to ultimately be successful - got hijacked by the government and business interest which decided to make DTT and digital migration a "job creation" priority.

The past few years as the digital migration process stalled, the focus and emphasis in DTT shifted to set-top box manufacture, how a local STB industry in South Africa can be artificially protected (although South Africa is years behind in both price point, expertise and actual manufacture of a device which is only a temporary measure since its globally built into TV sets automatically), and squabbling over how to be able to turn STBs off and scramble free TV signals to prevent set-top boxes from "leaving" South Africa's borders and from cheaper yet functional imports coming into South Africa.

South Africa is the only country in the world where the government mandated set-top box control and a set-top box control mechanism for public, free-to-air television, raising fears that government or parastatal institutions would be able to decide what and whose set-top box(es) should be turned on or off.

e.tv took the government to court saying South African broadcasters - forced to make allowance for STB control and a STB control mechanism - should at the very least be in control of it and not the government or unilaterally assigned parastatal institutions. The court agreed.

It now appears that the government is considering scrapping STB control and a STB mechanism altogether, which would be in the interest of the ordinary South African consumer and the ordinary South African television viewer.

Without the system built into STBs the set-top boxes would cost less since it will demand less parts and electronic components. The software of a STB control mechanism also requires royalties which also adds to the overall price and which will also no longer be necessary and also help to drop the cost.

Furthermore South Africa won't be locked into a STB locking system the country will never be able to escape. It will also give South African broadcasters one less ongoing concern and technical aspect to run and maintain and South Africa's TV industry one less thing in DTT to have to spend money and resources on.

After finally settling on the DVB-T2 - the right and best standard for DTT - after another drawn-out uncertain process, dumping the mandatory STB control mechanism would be the second correct decision for DTT in South Africa in years.

Dina Pule told parliament today that department will soon be reviewing the mandatory STB control mechanism decision. She said removing STB control from set-top boxes is "one way of fast-tracking the roll-out of digital terrestrial television".

Dina Pule told parliament that the government is "ready to implement the set-top box manufacturing strategy, which requires 30% local content as part of the electronic industry development".

BREAKING. Minister of communications, Dina Pule, suddenly blames e.tv and SABC for the hold-up of South Africa's switch to digital TV.

After ongoing multiple delays for more than a decade, little if any leadership from the department of communications which is support to lead and coordinate the process, South Africa's minister of communications, the embattled and scandal-ridden Dina Pule is suddenly accusing e.tv and the SABC for holding up South Africa's long-delayed switch-over to digital terrestrial television (DTT), a process known as digital migration.

Dina Pule who fought with e.tv and the SABC over who controls control over the the controversial set-top box (STB) control mechanism and herself thereby delayed the already delayed process, is now suddenly saying that e.tv and the SABC are responsible for "the current delays" in the switch to digital migration.

"I hope the SABC and e.tv are listening. You are holding us up," said Dina Pule at a press briefing in Johannesburg today. "The SABC and e.tv have yet to advise us on the set-top-box control system. This has resulted in the current delays we are facing."

"They know they are supposed to be helping me finalise the issue of the set-top-box control," said Dina Pule.

e.tv tells me in response to Dina Pule's statements today that "the minister of communications only withdrew her appeal in February - we couldn't do anything before that. Since then we've tried to take the matter forward with Sentech in a manner that complies with the court order - but we've had no success in this regard."

"The SABC and e.tv have now agreed a way forward and will be in a position to progress this shortly," e.tv tells me.

BREAKING. Consumers to pay even more for DTT in South Africa; government says weak digital TV signal will need new antennas as well.

You're reading it here first.

The bill is fast mounting for ordinary South African TV viewers for whom the cost is steadily increasing to get digital television: I can reveal that South Africa's 11 million TV households will also need to buy a new antenna besides just a set top box (STB) during the country's switch-over from analogue to digital broadcasting – because the digital signal will be ''too weak''. That will cost another R110 for over half of the TV households, besides the R700 per STB.

ALSO READ: The government finally confirmed what I've already spilled RIGHT HERE earlier - that new antennas will also be needed.

While millions of South Africans will have to cough up an estimated R700 to buy a STB for South Africa's TV switch-over, a process known as digital migration, the department of communications is now saying that new antennas will also be needed. That will cost another R110 for most viewers. Add another R31 ($4) if the government adds an encryption system, or so-called STB Control, into the box so that the government can control who gets the signal and prevent STBs from being used outside of South Africa. This means that the STB price has just shot up to a new estimated price of R840 per STB which the majority of South Africans will have to pay in full.

Meanwhile the government has said that only the poorest of South African households will receive a subsidy to buy a STB but has given no indication yet of how the subsidy will work, how it will determine which households qualify, and what the subsidy amount will be. The rest of households will have to fork out the full amount to switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) when broadcasters start moving to a digital broadcasting system.

The department of communications dropped a bombshell in parliament and told the portfolio committee on communications matter-of-factly that ''60% of South African TV owning households will require a (new) outdoor antenna; 40% will require an indoor antenna, depending on the strength of the signal. 'We have not catered for that when we dealt with the issue of the subsidy. There is a need for us as government to ensure that people have the right antenna to get the signal.''

The department said an outdoor antenna will cost an estimated R110 and an indoor antenna will cost R45.

This is going to balloon the overall cost of DTT in South Africa, increasing the financial burden on ordinary consumer and TV viewers. The department did a cost analysis for DTT in 2006 and determined that the entire programme of digital migration would cost South Africa R4,2 billion if the migration happened within the three year period for broadcasters, signal distributors, industry and consumers. ''The cost needs to be updated,'' the department said.

''If one could do with just (indoor) antennas or do away with antennas that would have been the ideal situation,'' the department told parliament. ''Unfortunately in practice this is not possible because we are using the Sentech network. The Sentech network was designed for analogue television. The network is not dense enough to enable the (digital) signal to be strong enough to provide coverage using indoor antennas only. We're sitting with an unfortunate situation whereby certain viewers need to outdoor antennas. If we were to try and implement a system for everybody to use indoor antennas, it would mean building a substantial number of transmitting stations. This would not only have cost implications but also for the digital migration timelines involved.''


ALSO READ: South African government wants digital TV control with DTT; M-Net objects to the set top box control system.
ALSO READ: Is M-Net being held back from launching its digital terrestrial television (DTT) offering?
ALSO READ: Marketing and information on South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process an utter disaster. Here's why.
ALSO READ: For DTT, the South African government wants a ''consortium'' of local manufacturers to produce set top boxes (STBs).

Open discussion held next Wednesday on the South African TV industry's switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) - the benefits and pitfalls.

Next Wednesday 21 September [POSTPONED! See the end of this story]  an interesting open forum discussion will be held in Johannesburg on South Africa's transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT), a process known as digital migration, that will have a far reaching impact on South Africa's TV industry and viewers.

ALSO READ: No MultiChoice? Then Multiview. Free television in South Africa gets a new name for digital terrestrial television (DTT).

''Survival tactics for broadcasting in a digital age'' is the subject of the debate organized by the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition, the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) and the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI). The discussion will take place on Wednesday 21 September between 11:00 - 13:00 at the IAJ, 5 Jubilee Rd, Parktown, Johannesburg.

The moderator of the dicussion will be Elston Seppie, executive director of the FXI, and speakers include Richard Waghorn, the chief technology officer of the SABC; Willie Currie, Icasa councillor and Norman Munzhelele, chief director: ICT policy research and development at the department of communications. Marcel Golding, CEO of e.tv and Rehad Desai, exsecutive member of the South African Screen Federation (Sasfed) have also both been invited to speak but have to still confirm their attendance.

People who want to attend can RSVP to Maki at the IAJ at print@iaj.org.za or phone 011 484 1765.

The discussion and debate will try to bring more perspective on the topic of South Africa's digital television broadcasting future as the country moves from analogue tot digital TV. Across the country South Africans will need to purchase new set top boxes (STBs) to receive the signal.

Should South Africa move to create a new set top box industry or should we simply import cheap STBs? Also, how can the industry ensure that everyone who can afford an STB buys one - and those that can't are subsidised? The SABC, e.tv and M-Net will be given a number of new ''digital incentive'' channels.

There are major advantages but also pitfalls. Potentially broadcasters will have the channel space to better fulfil their entertainment and public mandates covering all languages, regional issues, programming for women, the youth, the aged, disabled and rural.

But also there are pitfalls - how will broadcasters be able to afford to fill this channel space? How can the industry ensure that they don't give viewers an endless diet of American sitcoms and repeats? Further, does it make sense to stop new players from entering the market with new TV offerings during the dual illumination period (the period when broadcasters will need to broadcast in both analogue and digital signals)?

This debate has now been postponed as of today, 15 September, and I'm told will be rescheduled. The reason? Parliament has moved some of next week's dates regarding digital television hearings, to Wednesday, which now clashes with the day of the debate.

DIGITAL DZONGA DUMPED. Digital Dzonga dissolved for a 2nd time; governmant want to replace it with a new DTT department.

With South Africa already behind and risking falling even further behind with the transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT) the minister of communications has dissolved the Digital Dzonga advisory council for a second time.



The Digital Dzonga was an advisory council that was supposed to advise the minister of communications and the department of communications on all matters related to the national switchover in South Africa from analogue broadcasting to a digital system using the DVB-T2 standard. This process is known as ''digital migration''.

The first Digital Dzonga advisory council was sacked on April Fool's day last year when the then minister of communications Siphiwe Nyanda dissolved the council on 1 April 2010. Now his predecessor, Roy Padayachie dumped the reconstituted Digital Dzonga that was reformed in August last year but had their work immediately suspended at the end of March.

The 15 person Digital Dzonga headed by chairperson Mamokgethi Setati comprising representatives from broadcasters, signal distributors, labour, government and consumer groups has now been fully shut down the South African government. The minister of communication now wants a new internal department within the department of communications called the Digital Migration Office to do the DTT advisory work.

While analogue TV signals in South Africa are supposed to be terminated by December 2013 the department of communications that is supposed to spearhead the DTT process has still not explained how the incentive and subsidy scheme for DTT set top boxes (STBs) will work and how the department will decide who qualify for STB subsidies as ''poorest households''. The money set aside for this STB subsidy doesn't currently appear to be adequate. The department that is supposed to coordinate between shareholders and the SABS to publish and then approve final manufacturing standards and a strategy for STBs manufacturing have not yet done so. The department that is supposed to then invite tenders and then approve tenders to manufacture STBs have not yet done so.

DVB-T2 APPROVED. But where is South Africa's process of digital terrestrial television now, and what has to happen next?

DVB-T2 for South Africa. With DVB-T2 that has now been approved and confirmed by the South African government as the digital television standard for the country moving forward - a standard welcomed by all the South African broadcasters and the South African television industry - where is South African currently in the switchover to digital terrestrial television (a process known as ''digital migration''), and what has to happen next?

Well, as South Africa's minister of communications Roy Padayachie explains, the deadline for switch-over has now been moved from November 2011 to December 2013 giving the South African TV industry and broadcasters an additional 2 years to complete the process to DTT whereby broadcasters will change their signals from analogue to fully digital broadcasts.

As I told you RIGHT HERE in November, the SABC is currently not investing any further money in DTT and the public broadcaster's digital broadcasting switch-over other than running its DVB-T trial. That will now definitely change with the certainty in a digital TV standard. Meanwhile M-Net and e.tv already started running a joint DVB-T2 trial (read about it RIGHT HERE) from the end of last year.

So, what has to happen next as South Africa's TV broadcasting industry moves on to the next phase of digital migration? What's the next steps? What is the South African government yet to do who has to spearhead this massive broadcasting switch-over undertaking, when does that mean for local set-top box manufacturers and what will the South African broadcasters do next?

For my full analysis to put the just-announced DVB-T2 standard confirmation into perspective, click on READ MORE below.

BREAKING. Digital Dzonga advisory council sacked by minister of communications: SOS's reaction.

You're reading it here first.

I can be first to bring you Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) reaction reaction after the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda sacked the full Digital Dzonga advisory council yesterday, tasked to advise him about South Africa's digital TV migration process, known as digital terrestrial television (DTT). Minister Siphiwe Nyanda cited a ''conflict of interest'' under council members who served on the Digital Dzonga for the past two years.

The public broadcasting pressure group, Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) has Kate Skinner as coordinator and SOS is weighing in with reaction as follows: ''The concept of a Digital Dzonga advisory council including all the significant stakeholders is a sound one. The digital migration process is complex and multi-faceted and requires all stakeholders on board.''

''To date the Digital Dzonga has generally done very good work, it has done significant research and made a number of solid recommendations on issues such as manufacturing standards. Where it has been slow, it has generally been because government has been slow to implement its recommendations. One area where it has been slow has been around communication issues to the general public. Unfortunately the department has not been very supportive here.''

''The important point going forward is that government should be swifter in its implementation of the advisory council's recommendations. Certainly if there are conflict of interest problems these must be dealt with but the process of digital migration must not be slowed down by the dissolving of the council. The minister of communications must move swiftly to call for new public nominations.''

e.tv's reaction.

M-Net's reaction.

The FULL PRESS RELEASE from the department of communications.

BREAKING. Digital Dzonga advisory council sacked by minister of communications: e.tv's reaction.

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I can be first to bring you e.tv's reaction after the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda sacked the full Digital Dzonga advisory council yesterday, tasked to advise him about South Africa's digital TV migration process, known as digital terrestrial television (DTT). Minister Siphiwe Nyanda cited a ''conflict of interest'' under council members who served on the Digital Dzonga for the past two years.

Bronwyn Keene-Young, group chief operating officer (COO) of e.tv says: ''e.tv understood the idea of the Digital Dzonga was to include representatives of the industries affected by digital migration. This is in accordance with the approach taken by other countries who have executed a successful migration to digital TV. So we are uncertain about the view that there is now a conflict of interest as - by its very nature - a body that represents the industry will be constituted of members who have direct interests in the industry.''

''e.tv cannot comment further until more information is forthcoming on the constitution of the new council. However, e.tv would like to stress that the success of any digital migration process is critically dependent on the active involvement of the broadcasting industry as it is broadcasters that will inevitably drive the conversion to digital television.''

M-Net's reaction.

THE FULL PRESS RELEASE from the department of communications. 

BREAKING. Digital Dzonga advisory council sacked by minister of communications: M-Net's reaction.

You're reading it here first.

I can be first to bring you M-Net's reaction after the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda sacked the full Digital Dzonga advisory council yesterday tasked to advise him about South Africa's digital TV migration process, known as digital terrestrial television (DTT). Minister Siphiwe Nyanda cited a ''conflict of interest'' under council members who served on the Digital Dzonga for the past two years.

Karen Willenberg is M-Net's head of regulatory affairs and served as a council member on the Digital Dzonga advisory council.

Karen Willenberg, M-Net's head of regulatory affairs says: ''The members of the Digital Dzonga advisory council served at the behest of the minister and advised him on matters related to the implementation of the digital migration. Of course, the minister is fully entitled to address issues of the constitution of the Dzonga - whether because of perceived conflicts of interest, or any other reason. He has emphasized the importance of the work of this council and he is prioritizing the reconstitution of the Dzonga so this work may continue with minimal delay.''

THE FULL PRESS RELEASE from the department of communications.

BREAKING. Department of communications react after dissolving Digital Dzonga advisory council; don't want to mention specific names.

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I talked to the spokesperson for South Africa's minister of communications after the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda's unexpected and sudden decision yesterday to get rid of the Digital Dzonga advisory council, that will now be reconstituted with new council members. The minister of communications cites ''conflict of interest'' under council members.

The past two years the Digital Dzonga advisory council advised the minister about South Africa's digital TV migration process, known as digital terrestrial television (DTT) - a process that's already lagging behind.

I asked Tiyani Rikhotso what exactly the conflict of interest is. I wanted to know when a new council will be up and running. I wanted to know when this conflict of interest came under the minister's attention if they have been serving for two years already.

Read the answers by clicking on READ MORE below.