Communications Minister Faith Muthambi on Tuesday morning led an awareness campaign about digital migration which is a reliable and much cost effective means to distribute linear television content at the deep rural village of Rapotokane, in Bela-Bela, Limpopo.
The world is at the centre of digital media revolution, but in South Africa, terrestrial broadcasting which was still in analogue format when Minister Muthambi was appointed in 2014 is fast becoming out of fashion in the country.
To ensure that the country’s digital media remains relevant, South Africa needs to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting. Recently, the Minister and her team visited Ntambanana village in KwaZulu-Natal and Intabazwe township near Harrismith in the Free State as part of her nation-wide digital migration awareness campaign.
The days of analogue television transmission in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area, Northern Cape is over. This comes after Minister Muthambi officially discontinued the outdated analogue system in the SKA area three months ago. This signalled the biggest change to the broadcasting space in the country.
As a result, Over 3 700 households in the town of Carnavon, Vanwyksvlei, Brandvlei, Vosburg and Williston have fully migrated to the digital platform.
The digital migration awareness campaign at Rapotokane will also serve as a registration drive for the free subsidised government Set Top Boxes (STBs).
An STB enables TV viewers, to get more channels of perfect digital reception, which is uncommon in the deep rural areas. Government has committed to provide free STBs to five million households who cannot afford to buy them.
Minister Muthambi said: This kind of broadcasting has many advantages: efficient usage of radio frequency spectrum, better sound and picture quality, possibility of additional services, possibility of high-definition picture (HDTV) and wide screen picture format to mention, but a few DTT benefits.
This year’s last digital migration awareness campaign will be held at Cathyville community hall, in Mpumalanga on Thursday, December 29.
Source: South African Government News Agency