The Department of Communications (DOC) is processing submissions on the control aspect of the set-top boxes (STBs) needed for digital television migration, but has yet to provide updated timelines for the move.
Towards the end of last year, Cabinet approved the department's recommendation that only subsidised boxes must have controls, while manufacturers targeting the retail sector were given the option of using controls.
The department's recommendation was a bid to settle a long-standing dispute between broadcasters, which had failed to reach consensus on the issue. The matter, which has been holding up migration for some time, stalled towards the end of 2012 when a High Court judge ruled the DOC could not mandate a vendor and this was in the hands of broadcasters.
Communications minister Yunus Carrim tells ITWeb government "obviously" wants to meet the target of turning off analogue television in mid-2015, but needs the cooperation of the broadcasters and manufacturers.
Globally, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will stop protecting analogue broadcast in the middle of 2015. This means those countries that have not migrated could face interference in broadcast signal from their neighbours.
Moving to digital television, the first major technological step forward since the launch of terrestrial television, will also free up spectrum - the so-called digital dividend - which can be used to extend broadband services deeper into rural SA.
Carrim says the state has not discussed asking the ITU for an extension on the deadline. SA, and the bulk of its neighbours, is migrating using the European DVB-T2 standard.
Middle ground
Carrim says a decision on controls will be made "as soon as possible," but this depends partly on the cooperation received from the contending parties. Etv has come out strongly in favour of a control system, but the South African Broadcasting Corporation and MultiChoice are opposed to the technology being incorporated in decoders.
The department's recommendation arose because the "broadcasters were given considerable time to arrive at consensus on the issues of STB control, but they failed to do so", says Carrim.
Government's approach, which follows a failed facilitation process, gives "something to everybody", says Carrim. He adds it also mitigates the need for a review of the South African Bureau of Standards standard, which would take six months had controls been removed entirely, he adds.
Should objections be raised to government's final decision, the parties involved will be engaged in the "appropriate form", says Carrim. He adds the DOC would like to officially launch digital television as soon as possible with a huge public awareness programme and clear targets and deadlines.