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The rest of us with a humble `vanilla` TV are eagerly watching the South African government`s plan for digital migration take shape - that is the move from our current analogue TV to digital terrestrial television, known as DTT. The big day we`re all waiting for is 1 November 2011, when the analogue signal is officially `going to be switched off`, and by extension, the digital signal switched on.

THE RACE SO FAR

South Africa is already in its second year of DTT roll-out, a project masterminded by state-owned signal distributor Sentech.

Thankfully, despite the initial, but not surprising, delays in government handing over the first tranche of project money (which will amount to R960 million on completion in 2011), the project got started in mid 2006, and has got back on track for completion on time and on schedule, according to Frans Lindeque, executive of Digital Services at Sentech.

What is worrying though, is government`s lack of communication with the viewing public about the implications of DTT on their lives - how DTT is better than analogue TV, will they be able to receive the digital signal with their current aerials and TVs, or will they need to invest in new equipment.

DECODER PLANS VAGUE

The most crucial piece of equipment for most viewers (aside from an aerial with the correct bandwidth) is a digital set-top-box decoder they will need to receive the digital signal and convert it into an analogue signal for their analogue TV set.

However, neither the design specifications, nor the extent of the government subsidy, nor the appointment of a manufacturer (or manufacturers) of the set-top box have been finalised as yet.

DIGITAL DZONGA

Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced the establishment of Digital Dzonga, a body to oversee the roll-out of digital migration in South Africa, in early 2006, but beyond that has made no pronouncements on the scope of its responsibilities.

Government hasn`t even outlined its digital migration strategy, though the deadline for the extended period for comment was in mid-April, and those in the know expect its publication "any day now".

However, the Digital Migration Working Group (DMWG), which delivered its 350-page report to the Communications Minister in November, indicated that consumers would be expected to buy the set-top boxes (STB), tipped to cost about R400 each at the time.

(This DMWG consists of representatives from the broadcasting industry, the Independent Communications Authority of SA [Icasa], government, civil society, organised labour and consumer groups.)

"In South Africa, approximately 4.4 million television households will not be able to afford a basic STB decoder," noted Lara Kantor, chairperson of the DMWG, at the time.

She added that the working group had recommended that government consider subsidising consumers in this regard. National Treasury, meanwhile, apparently asked that the barrier to entry not be too high, and that the decoders not be too expensive.

An insider to the set-top-box process, who wishes to remain anonymous, indicates that the view from the Department of Trade and Industry is that there will only be subsidies for local manufacturers, and for the basic set-top box - like the DStv set-top boxes, there are several iterations in the works: some more sophisticated than others.

"If the specs are finalised by July, the manufacturers have assured us they`ll be in production by November this year," indicates the source.

This insider also stresses that roll-out of the signal will be phased. "We won`t need 7.5 million boxes by November 2008," the insider says.

INSIDE THE INFRASTRUCTURE

November 1, 2008 is Sentech`s first major deadline, indicates Lindeque, as it is the first phase of DTT switch-on, predominantly to South Africa`s main metropolitan regions - "a target we are confident we will meet", he says.

By this date, 184 new DTT transmitter sites will have been rolled out nationwide and three months of aggressive testing should have been carried out, he says.

The second phase of DTT roll-out is earmarked for completion before the FIFA World Cup in 2010. "At that time, at least 78% of the country`s population will have access to DTT services," notes Lindeque. He says that Sentech is hoping to make additional channels available for extra match or training coverage during the event.

In a statement, Sentech indicated that during the switch-on phases there will be a three-year dual illumination period, which will see analogue and digital transmissions being simulcast to allow viewers time to acquire the required digital receiving equipment.

Two multiplexes are set to carry seven DTT channels - MNet, etv, all three SABC channels, plus two additional regional SABC channels.

Lindeque points out that Sentech`s mandate, at the end of the day, is to make sure DTT has the same coverage as SABC 1, 2, and 3 currently has by the planned analogue switch-off date.

THE BROADCAST PICTURE

This is apparently in line with world trends. The European Union, for example, has recommended that member states cease to transmit in analogue by 2015. Sweden, for example, already broadcasts 38 channels via DTT.

Similarly, the International Telecommunication Union has set an international deadline for the African region to have migrated to digital broadcasting by June 2015.

Broadcasters who continue broadcasting in the old analogue technology will apparently no longer be protected from harmful interference of their broadcasting services, resulting in picture distortions and degradation of images to black.

In addition to additional television and radio channels, South Africa`s state broadcaster, the SABC, expects added reach and easier collection of licence fees, says acting CTO Nic Bonthuys. Reason being that the set-top boxes will offer conditional access much like the DStv decoders - no payment means no signal.

Although the SABC has also been preparing for DTT since 2003, he says, these preparations have been mostly operational, and the broadcaster has yet to finalise its capex budget.

He also stresses the need for an awareness campaign, which the SABC will also be involved in, in order to manage the "aggressive" changeover in as orderly a fashion as possible. By use of the term aggressive, he explains that some developed countries set themselves similar three-year changeover timelines.

Unlike Sentech, the SABC will require some new skills to operate in a digital environment. "We may need some new skills sets, and training will be our first option," says Bonthuys. Evidence of this is the fact that it has hired the services of Irish consulting firm, Ovum, to help it strategise operationally for conversion to a multichannel digital environment.

Whether South Africa experiences a smooth transition to digital TV depends not only on the cost of the receiving technology for consumers, but the success of the awareness campaigns, and support from government and Icasa, who will be licensing the broadcasters, but also the industry as a whole.