The Department of Communications (DOC) has taken steps to try avoid knock-on effects of its legal battle with broadcasters, and the inevitable digital TV delays caused by its appeal against a recent court ruling.
The court ruling, handed down in the South Gauteng High Court last month, established that communications minister Dina Pule's decision, in May last year, to allow Sentech to handle set-top box (STB) controls, was "unlawful and of no force" and it was set aside.
On Monday - the same day Pule filed an application for leave to appeal acting judge Gerrit Pretorius' verdict - the DOC met with free-to-air broadcasters, including the SABC and etv.
The department says the move was intended to give involved parties the opportunity "to consider the implications of implementing the High Court's decision to grant broadcasters the right to control conditional access in state-subsidised STBs".
Dire delays
While Pule's appeal in itself would cause a hold-up of SA's digital migration process, the DOC said yesterday that the court decision could lead to delays in the implementation of digital migration by up to three years - "if stakeholders do not manage the matter with the necessary care and urgency".
A delay of that nature, says the DOC, would mean SA would only switch on digital TV long after the International Telecommunication Union deadline of June 2015.
Pule's spokesperson, Siyabulela Qoza, says the meeting ended in participating parties agreeing to consider "all options available" to ensure swift implementation of the digital migration programme.
"These discussions centred on finding ways that will deliver set-top boxes to the market and deliver much needed jobs this year. Broadcasters agreed to make their independent recommendations to the DOC by 28 January."
Among the proposals the parties are considering, says Qoza, are ways of ensuring the STB manufacturing tender (delayed due to the legal dispute between the broadcaster and the department) is finalised without delay and with due regard to the National Treasury regulations.
He says the department is open to meeting broadcasters at an earlier date, should that be necessary.
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