Let’s work together to deliver digital TV to nation

THE Department of Communications welcomes the cabinet decision regarding the approval of the Broadcasting Digital Migration Amendment Policy with the inclusion of the control system in the Set Top Box (STB), which will be clearly defined when the policy is published.

The issue of whether to include the control system in the STBs has been the source disagreement among free-to-air broadcasters for some time now, which impacted negatively on the ability of the country to implement the change within the International Telecommunications Union’s agreed timelines.

Broadcasting digital migration simply defined means the migration of the broadcasting services from analogue broadcasting technology to digital technologies. The primary objective is to clear the radio frequency spectrum currently occupied by broadcasters to enable the provision of wireless mobile broadband services.

For the purposes of accelerating the migration of free-to-air broadcasting TV from analogue to digital, control system will have the following meaning:

The control system does not mean a conditional access system, nor does it mean an encryption of the signal to control access to content by viewers.

The control system refers to a security feature to encourage the local electronic manufacturing sector.

The STB must have minimal switching (on/off) security features to protect the subsidised STBs from theft or leaving South African borders.

And it must have capabilities to enable the provision of government information and services.

The new policy position does not in any way prohibit any broadcaster who will want to include conditional access in the provision of broadcasting services. Government will provide free STBs to more than 5 million poor TV household owners instead of a partial subsidy of 70 percent. The department therefore calls upon all key roleplayers to put all their differences behind them and work together to deliver digital TV to our people.