Digital TV cost to SA viewers

The bill is fast mounting for ordinary South African TV viewers to get digital television – and the price is steadily increasing.


Government has revealed that South Africa's 11 million TV households will also need to buy a new antenna in addition to a set top box (STB) during the country's switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting – because the digital signal will be "too weak".
While millions of South Africans will have to cough up an estimated R700 to buy a STB for the switchover, a process known as digital migration, the Department of Communications is now saying that new antennae will also be needed.

That will cost another R110 for most viewers. Add another R31 if government adds an encryption system, or so-called STB Control, into the box so that it can control who gets the signal and prevent STBs from being used outside of South Africa.
This means that the STB price has just shot up to an estimated R840, which the majority of South Africans will have to pay in full.


Subsidies


Meanwhile, government has said that only the poorest of South African households will receive a subsidy to buy an STB, but has given no indication yet of how the subsidy will work, how it will determine which households qualify, and what the subsidy amount will be.
The rest of households will have to pay the full amount to switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) when broadcasters start moving to a digital broadcasting system.


New antennae needed


The Department of Communications dropped a bombshell in Parliament and told the portfolio committee on communications that "60% of South African TV owning households will require a (new) outdoor antenna; and 40% will require an indoor antenna, depending on the strength of the signal.
"We have not catered for that when we dealt with the issue of the subsidy. There is a need for us as government to ensure that people have the right antenna to get the signal."
The department said an outdoor antenna will cost an estimated R110 and an indoor antenna will cost R45.
This is going to balloon the overall cost of DTT in South Africa, increasing the financial burden on ordinary consumers and TV viewers.
The department did a cost analysis for DTT in 2006 and determined that the entire programme of digital migration would cost South Africa R4.2 billion if the migration happened within the three-year period for broadcasters, signal distributors, industry and consumers. "The cost needs to be updated," the department said.


Digital signal 'not strong enough'

"If one could do with just (indoor) antennae or do away with antennae that would have been the ideal situation," the department told Parliament.
"Unfortunately, in practise this is not possible because we are using the Sentech network. The Sentech network was designed for analogue television. The network is not dense enough to enable the (digital) signal to be strong enough to provide coverage using indoor antennas only.
"We're sitting with an unfortunate situation whereby certain viewers need outdoor antennas. If we were to try and implement a system for everybody to use indoor antennas, it would mean building a substantial number of transmitting stations. This would not only have cost implications but also for the digital migration timelines involved."


Major confusion


Meanwhile, most ordinary South Africans are clueless about the imminent process of digital migration and what is happening, partly because government's information and marketing campaign, which should have been running for months already, collapsed because of a failed government contract.
Then Minister of Communications, Roy
Padayachie, called it a "serious issue" and said that "everybody is beginning to pick this up".


He said: "If you go out there very few people really understand what this is all about. That is directly related to the previous contractor that was given a R22 million contract to run the campaign and ran into problems.
"That contract got suspended. The department is finalising the legalities of that so that we can settle the matter with that contract. What is being put in place is a new set of measures to implement the marketing strategies. We want to put out a new tender for the marketing campaign."  

Channel24
Source : News24.com
Tags: digital tv transmission, DVT B, SA viewers

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SA Gov move to tap BBM service

Deputy Communications Minister Obed Bapela says government is considering following Britain’s and Saudi Arabia’s call for decryption of BlackBerry messages "if crimes are committed using the BlackBerry service"
CHANTELLE BENJAMIN and GARETH VORSTER

A CALL by Deputy Communications Minister Obed Bapela yesterday for new regulations giving police authority to access messages sent via BlackBerry’s encrypted messenger service (BBM) has puzzled technology experts.


SA already has legislation allowing this — the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (Rica).


This year millions of South Africans registered their SIM cards in the face of a threat of disconnection. Once registered, SIM cards can be tracked and traced. This is meant to trace people who use phones to commit crimes.

Mr Bapela told delegates to Telkom ’s Southern African Telecommunication Network and Application conference in East London yesterday that the government was considering following Britain’s and Saudi Arabia’s call for decryption of BlackBerry messages "if crimes are committed using the BlackBerry service".


He promised delegates that the government’s intention was not to spy on citizens’ communication on social networks. His proposed legislation would be used only once a crime had been committed — and then permission would be sought from a magistrate.


Mr Bapela said later that SA had a "high threat of crime" which ought to be given priority.


His proposal follows recent calls by UK MPs for a block on BlackBerry messenger services during the London riots. Their reasoning, that BBM was being used to stoke riots, was based on the fact that 37% of UK youth used BBM and not on research, said technology expert Arthur Goldstuck.


Mr Goldstuck and Democratic Alliance communications spokeswoman Natasha Michael said Rica was intended to deal with all eventualities.


Ms Michael, who on served on Parliament’s justice committee before taking up her present post, said: "The basis of Rica is good, old-fashioned wire tapping — the interception of messages. The type of technology would be irrelevant. Whether it was BBM or SMS, Rica allows for access."


Mr Goldstuck said while "no public- spirited person would deny the government the right to access any source that could be used to commit a crime", he believed the statements by Mr Bapela on the alleged misuse of BlackBerry could "be considered reckless".


"In the case of the UK riots, the arrests led to the interception of information on Facebook and Twitter. There was never any evidence of misconduct via BBM," he said.


Mr Goldstuck said it was unfortunate that Mr Bapela had used the examples of Saudi Arabia and the UK to justify his position — a " despotic regime and a country that has shown itself to be ignorant of instant messaging".


Mr Bapela said he had yet to engage with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM), but he was hopeful they would find a solution, given the seriousness of crime in SA.


RIM’s co-operation would be needed for decryption. RIM has shown itself willing to co-operate in other countries where governments have raised concerns about BBM, such as the United Arab Emirates.


The Department of Communications did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Source -http://Businessday.co.za
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