Free-to-air broadcaster etv is gearing up to switch over to digital television, which it hopes will become a reality in the first half of next year.
However, before the broadcaster can light up digital signal, there are several issues that need to be tackled by government. Last year, pay-TV broadcaster MNet and etv successfully trialled digital television using the European DVB-T2 standard.

SA decided in January to migrate to digital using the DVB-T2 standard, after initially deciding to go with its forerunner, DVB-T, in 2006. Migration stalled about a year ago, when former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda elected to investigate the Brazilian ISDB-T standard, which outraged the industry.

Nyanda’s successor, Roy Padayachie, has set an ambitious target to turn off analogue broadcasting by the end of 2013, a year-and-a-half before the global deadline.

Vasili Vass, etv’s GM of group communications, says the broadcaster is gearing up to launch digital television in the first six months of next year. However, this is only possible if the framework allowing broadcast is first put in place, he adds.

Among issues that must still be sorted out are set-top box (STB) standards, which need to be finalised before manufacturers can make decoders. The standards should be wrapped up towards the end of the year.