digital transmission
Digital Transmission
There is a global push towards digital transmission of TV signals – for reasons of efficient spectrum usage, lower transmission cost and better service offerings for users.
But throughout the world, this “migration” from traditional analogue transmission of TV to newer digital transmission systems is proving to be a highly complex proposition.
Even in wealthy nations with a mass of well-off consumers able to pay for new services and equipment,
getting the “digital business case” right – particularly the economics of the “switchover” period – has been fraught with difficulty.
Use of Digital Terrestrial Television
Two countries, the UK and Spain, have already seen the collapse of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, and while in the UK DTT has been revived and is operational again, the process has not been an easy one.
Most of South Africa’s approximately 7 million TV households consume “free-to-air” television -- SABC 1, 2 and 3, and eTV – via analogue transmissions received through traditional fixed antennas attached to their sets.
Satellite Service
Only about 670,000 subscribers consume digital TV transmissions, via the DStv direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service. Most industry-watchers are convinced that the migration to digital-only TV.
transmission in South Africa and the rest of the world is inevitable -- meaning that the 6 million South African households currently receiving analogue TV will eventually make use of digital signals.
Analogue and Digital TV future in South Africa
But there is less agreement about how quickly South Africa can or should arrive in this digital TV future. The advantages of digital TV transmission are clear lower transmission costs for the broadcasters and signal distributors.
more efficient use of broadcast frequency spectrum, higher-quality images, and greater consumer choice/interactivity. But the migration period to digital is expensive.
The broadcasters have to pay to put their programming on both analogue and digital platforms, so as to draw viewers over to digital while not stripping “late adopters” still on analogue services.
And the switch to digital puts added costs on the consumer, who has to purchase either a set-top box (STB) converter or a new, digitally-enabled TV set, and often a new aerial.
In South Africa, where many households cannot afford a television set, any extra reception cost threatens to undermine the important objective of universal access. Meanwhile, revenue streams for broadcasters are not as straightforward in the digital TV environment.
Digital TV bouquets tend to fragment audiences between niche services, and “broadcasting” starts to become more like “narrowcasting” – something that not all advertisers find attractive.
And to make full use of the digital environment, road casters increasingly have to link up with other types of services, such as home shopping and Internet-based platforms.
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