Digital Transition Strategy Said Still a Dream in Many African States
With the digital TV switchover scheduled for Africa by 2015, not much seems to be happening except in South Africa, officials said. There, broadcasters seeking to launch DTV on the back of next year’s World Cup soccer games are trialing one free and one subscription service despite several unresolved regulatory and policy issues, said Lynn Mansfield, chairman of the South African Digital Broadcasting Association. Elsewhere, most countries haven’t begun to think about switchover strategy, said Alan Downie, a consultant with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, which mainly includes public broadcasters.
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South Africa’s digital transition is set for Nov. 1, 2011, Mansfield said in an interview. The “Digital Dzonga,” an advisory panel of representatives from the government, consumer groups, broadcasters, manufacturers and communications regulator ICASA, was created to oversee and coordinate the move. The office has yet to find a CEO, permanent members or funding, Mansfield said.
The country’s digital migration policy, published last year, identified several concerns, Mansfield said. Chief among them is that South Africans generally can’t afford the set-top boxes needed to receive DTV, he said. The working group drawing up the migration plan recommended that the government subsidize low-income households for up to 70 percent of the cost of a set-top box, he said. Qualification criteria for the subsidy haven’t been set yet, Mansfield said.
The working group also established a national standard, to be finalized in June or July, to ensure the boxes meet minimum safety criteria for over-the-air uploads, he said. The lack of a standard before now has kept set-top makers from starting to manufacture the devices, he said. Moreover, some retailers are telling consumers they need new TVs to pick up digital broadcasts, a misinformation campaign that must be countered, he said.
The regulator unveiled a draft spectrum frequency plan late in 2008, Mansfield said. The problem is that most VHF and UHF bands are already in use, leaving little room for starting digital services until analog signals are turned off, he said. ICASA is trying to resolve the situation, he said. South Africa, which tends to adopt African and European standards, will use DVB-T for digital transmission, and probably DVB-H for mobile broadcasting, Mansfield said.
South Africa is ahead of its neighbors in switchover planning, Mansfield said. TV penetration in many African nations is limited to urban areas, leaving governments wondering whether to expand analog rollout first, introduce digital services, or do a combination, he said. Countries are thinking about it, he said, but switching is an expensive process many can’t afford.
Attitudes, outlooks and socioeconomic realities vary widely across sub-Saharan Africa, but starting June 2014 analog services there will no longer be protected from new digital services, Downie told us. It’s “a massive project and a massive problem,” he said, and each country in the region is tackling it differently.
Acquiring, editing and distributing digital content isn’t the issue, Downie said. Digital cameras, editing devices and other gear are widely used throughout the continent, and most broadcasters are capable of sending content from their studios in digital format, he said.
Getting the content into viewers’ homes is another matter, Downie said. The only two transmission options are traditional terrestrial and satellite broadcast -- not Internet or cable -- and satellite services are used only by a small minority, he said. All sub-Saharan countries are plagued by a limited number of terrestrial broadcast towers and financially strapped viewers who will need set-top boxes, he said. Many people don’t have TVs, most TVs aren’t color and many use simple antennas that may not work with digital transmissions, he said.
State broadcasters traditionally build transmitters with masts and antenna to the north of a city, commercial broadcasters to the south, Downie said. The “chaotic” lack of co-siting means TV viewers either need two different antennas to pick up the stations or one that swivels, he said. Digital transmission only works sensibly with multiplexes that gather content from many suppliers and transmit it from one antenna, he said.
Many countries are stalled on regulatory questions of how and to whom to award broadcast licenses, who multiplexers are, who can access a particular channel and who will educate the audience about the benefits of digital, Downie said. A major issue is how to keep out U.S. imports so as to allow indigenous industry to develop, he said.
Regulators were still mulling all this as of January, Downie said. It’s “appalling” that they don’t realize the importance of setting a regulatory framework to allow companies to get on with the transition, he said. Until the rules are in place, no one can decide where to get the necessary equipment, how to pay for it, how to afford dual equipment for several years before the switchover, when to make the actual changeover, where advertising will come from and how to create subscription channels, he said. The situation hasn’t changed significantly in three years, Downie said. Everyone’s worried about 2014 because there’s no roadmap, he said.
Outside of South Africa, few are preparing for the switchover, Balancing Act consultant Russell Southwood said. Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Botswana appear to be edging forward, he and others said. “Beyond this there is only silence,” Southwood wrote.