Full switchover of digital TV will happen in November next year, as was set out in the terms agreed to by Cabinet, says the Department of Communications (DOC).
The department released information about the formation of a new Digital Dzonga this week, which included stipulations about the timeline for a full digital migration.
Speaking to ITWeb yesterday, DOC spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso confirmed the department expects broadcasters to switch off their analogue signal by the prescribed Cabinet date.
The announcement brings more confusion to the process, since the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) recently released regulations governing the conversion of analogue TV to its digital format. These stipulate that broadcasters will have three years from the beginning of decoder manufacturing before they will need to cut off the analogue signal.
While no date has been specified in the document, if manufacturing began by August this year, the broadcasters would have until 2014, just one year before the international deadline, to cover the South African geography with a digital signal.
Rikhotso says while the DOC and ICASA have met and discussed several aspects of the digital migration process, the subject of the contradictory timelines has never been brought up. Rikhotso cannot explain why ICASA has a vastly different view on when digital TV should be fully implemented in SA, saying the regulator needs to speak for itself.
Not enough time
ICASA will want to discuss the matter with the minister urgently, since it has already dodged at least one legal challenge from free-to-air broadcaster etv on the tight timelines expected of the broadcasters.
The regulator was hauled to court over the deadlines stipulated in the first few drafts of the regulations, which mirrored the DOC's November 2011 date. The broadcaster felt the date was unfair, since it would be impossible to meet.
ICASA has long expressed its sympathy for the broadcasters in the matter, since it only started working on the actual regulations in October 2008, just after it had been handed government policy on the process. The interdict was delivered by etv in August last year.
Even now, there are still outstanding issues that will prevent the broadcasters meeting the deadline set by Cabinet and upheld by the DOC.
All is well
However, the DOC is adamant the entire process is on track and has met all the required timelines. “According to our project plan, everything is going fine. We are not delayed,” adds Rikhotso.
One of the outstanding issues is the manufacturing of the decoder, or set-top box, a technology that will be required for South Africans to watch digital TV when the analogue signal is switched off.
The department is expected to put the manufacturing of the subsidised boxes out to tender, so that the process can finally get under way. However, little or no clarity exists on the matter. Rikhotso says there will be a tender process but cannot say when this will happen.
Council recreated
The DOC also recently dissolved the Digital Dzonga, the council that was supposed to be overseeing the migration process. It has subsequently recreated the council as a government department, with seats that need to be filled.
Rikhotso says the council has not changed but they will now have to make sure there is no conflict of business interests when candidates apply. “The process is now reopened and those members of the former council who feel they do not have a conflict of interest can reapply.”
He says the department hopes to fill the vacant seats on the council as soon as possible. However, it has not given a timeframe of when it expects the members to begin their work.
It remains to be seen whether ICASA will appeal to Cabinet on behalf of the broadcasters to extend the deadline to allow for more breathing room.
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