Free-to-air broadcasters etv and SABC have agreed with communication minister Dina Pule's statement that they are "holding up" SA's migration to digital terrestrial television (DTT).
Speaking at a business breakfast yesterday, Pule said etv and SABC have yet to advise the Department of Communications (DOC) on the set-top box (STB) access control system. "This has resulted in the current delays we are facing."
Pule said a recent court judgement in favour of etv made the broadcasters responsible for deciding on the control vendors for the STBs, a vital element of the migration process.
On the DOC's part, she said, the DTT signal was ready for about 80% of the country, with the question of who would manufacture the devices still up in the air.
She said a decision was taken last year to accelerate the process.
SA is migrating to digital TV using the upgraded European DVB-T2 standard. Initially tabled for April last year, the deadline was pushed out prior to that to allow STB manufacturers time to produce the decoders needed to convert the signal for viewing on older televisions.
Not wrong
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago says, in principle, Pule is correct in saying the ball is in etv and SABC's court.
"She is not wrong. But etv's court case last year delayed the process and now we are working together with them to finalise the matter."
Etv launched a legal claim against Pule and Sentech in September, following the minister's decision to have state-owned Sentech handle STB access controls. The result was that the DOC was unable to issue a tender for subsidised decoders, or launch digital TV commercially, until it knew which way the court would rule.
In December, the South Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of etv on the premise that Pule's unilateral decision was "unlawful and of no force". Pule subsequently appealed the court's decision, but then withdrew the appeal after discussions with the broadcasters and other interested parties.
Kganyago says only after legal issues were out of the way, could the two free-to-air broadcasters begin discussions around STB access control. "These are not easy discussions. We have to agree on everything and then only can we implement it."
Vasili Vass, etv's group head of corporate affairs, similarly does not deny the broadcaster's role in delays, but points out that Pule 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."
Vass says etv and the SABC have now agreed on a way forward and will be in a position to make headway on this "shortly".
Priority point
Meanwhile, the recently appointed SABC interim board has unveiled its "action plan" to Parliament.
The board appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Communications (PCC) in Parliament on Wednesday to present the broadcaster's "key issues". Migration to DTT was tabled as one of the priority issues.
On the upside, said the SABC in a statement on the PCC meeting, one of the key milestones identified by the committee was the sourcing of funding for DTT to "ensure an uninterrupted implementation".
The interim board, which sees the end of its term in September, has committed to "deal speedily" with the issues raised.
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