The amazing race

GOVERNMENT`S long-promised Digital Dzonga, the body which will oversee SA`s migration from analogue to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting by 2015, should be fully up and running by April. So says Lara Kantor, who is both chairperson of the body and the SABC`s general manager of digital policy.

The Digital Dzonga is not yet fully established, she indicates. Currently its advisory council consists of Kantor and 11 other members, representing terrestrial broadcasters, signal distributors, two local set-top box manufacturers, government, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and a consumer representative.

Top of the Digital Dzonga`s to-do list for the year include finalising operational matters such as the employment of key staff; working with a communications agency on the public communications campaign; liaising with government on the status of the subsidy scheme and assisting where possible; and beginning to put in place the conformance and help schemes, adds Kantor.

By the end of this month, the Digital Dzonga is also hoping to finalise its report on the roadmap for commercial launch of DTT this year and present it to the minister of communications.

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Government originally scheduled the launch for November 1 last year, but did so before finalising its policy, which in turn meant Icasa didn`t have the regulatory framework or frequency plan finished in time. Needless to say, there was no commercial launch of DTT on this date.

The question of the body`s budget has yet to be resolved. "We have not yet been informed but we put in a request of approximately R25 million, which excludes the funding for the communications campaign, the call centre and the subsidy scheme which government is budgeting for separately," says Kantor.

Despite these delays, the broadcasters are going ahead with their preparations for the changeover.

Kantor says the SABC decided to proceed with a free-to-air trial, together with e.tv, after it realised that a commercial DTT launch would not be possible in November. The trial, being conducted in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, is expected to cost about R15 million, with the SABC carrying most of the costs. The SABC and e.tv are licensed to run the trial until July.

GOING AHEAD, REGARDLESS

"The free-to-air trial phase is now in its third month. We have deployed over three hundred STBs [set-top boxes] and expect to have over 2 000 deployed by the end of January. The trial is progressing very well, and we expect to achieve all the objectives set," she adds.

The first six weeks of the trial were meant to test the technical aspects of the platform and the STBs.

"We experienced a few configuration and software problems on the network and on the STBs, as expected, but all of these are now resolved. We can now move into the next phase of the trial which is starting the consumer research. Initial feedback has been that the quality of picture and sound is much better in digital. This will obviously be tested further with the consumer research," notes Kantor.

The SABC has been using two locally manufactured STBs; those manufactured by Altech UEC and RC&C Manufacturing.

Channels available on the free-to-air trial are SABC1, SABC2, SABC3, SABC Education, SABC Entertainment, SABC News International, SABC Sport, e.tv, e.tv Classic, and all the SABC radio stations and YFM.

Kantor indicates that the SABC would like to have the DTT service launched in time for the Confederations Cup, to be held in SA from 14 to 28 June as a prelude to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

“But the launch is dependent on a number of processes which are out of our control being completed: STB spec finalised, digital regulations finalised, frequency plan finalised, licences issued and clarity from government on the availability of dual illumination funding. A launch cannot happen until these are all sorted,” she explains.