Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications has advised Cabinet to carefully consider all the implications of a possible digital TV migration review, but has not come out for or against any mooted standard.
From 17 to 31 July, 10 members from all the political parties represented on the committee accompanied by five support staff (a researcher, two secretaries and two translators) visited the UK and Brazil on a study tour to examine how those countries were managing their migration from analogue to digital TV broadcasting systems.
Another objective was to gain an idea on how the broadcasting and telecommunications regulatory bodies were structured and worked.
The decision to make the trip came after the Department of Communications (DOC) announced in February that it was investigating the possibility of using a digital TV standard called ISDB-T, even though Cabinet had selected the European DVB-T standard four years ago.
Careful consideration
SA's analogue TV signal is due to be switched off on 11 November 2011, after a three-year dual-illumination period. National signal distributor Sentech claims to already have at least 70% of the population covered by its digital transmitters; however, none of the set-top boxes needed to convert digital signals for display on analogue TV sets have been manufactured yet.
“The committee advises that Cabinet should very carefully consider all the implications of a possible review of policy on digital migration,” the report states in its conclusion.
Committee chairperson Ismail Vadi (ANC) says policy formulation is the prerogative of Cabinet (the executive arm of government) and so the committee must tread carefully when making recommendations. He said all the political parties on the committee endorsed the report.
Juli Kilian, communications spokesperson for Congress of the People, says she agrees with the report's recommendation.
“I am optimistic that the committee members realise that a review of (digital TV) standards at this stage would impact negatively on the deadline for digital migration. Furthermore, that it would result in substantial financial losses for the broadcasting industry, Sentech, the SABC and SMEs who have invested in set-top box manufacturing,” she says.
Democratic Alliance deputy communications spokesman Niekie van den Berg says the trip was characterised by the hard-selling of the Brazilian system.
“The Brazilians want to sell this system into SA. However, our Cabinet has already selected the European standard that has been endorsed by industry and they have spent millions of rands preparing for it,” he says.
Van den Berg says should the South African government decide to change standards, it would set back digital migration by at least three years, as it would have to be reconfigured for local conditions.
Vadi says he was impressed with the technical know how of the South African manufacturers. “This is a small, but very important sector for SA,” he says.
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