Analogue broadening was to be switched off in South Africa at the end of March, however, the High court has decided to extend the deadline as many homes in the country are not ready for the switch.
Digital migration is the process of moving from analogue to digital broadcasting for TV and radio. Some of the advantages of digital broadcasting include higher picture quality, more stable connections, a wider range of content including access to radio stations not necessarily available in your region.
On Monday, the High Court in Pretoria ordered Communications Minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, to not complete the analogue television switch-off that was planned to be completed on Thursday.
A court application to delay the analogue television switch-off was brought by free-to-air broadcaster eTV and Media Monitoring Africa.
Media Monitoring Africa’s William Bird says the High Court’s decision does provide everyone with a bit of breathing room in order to complete the preparation for the switch-off.
He does argue that the government should have done more to assist millions of households by distributing set-top boxes or decoders more effectively.
Bird said, “It gives government a bit of breathing room to actually get the installations done hopefully we can see people working together on proper campaigns seeing making sure that they roll them Out more effectively and that they can actually get on and get done with the satellite box installation
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the 507 251 households registered by 31 October 2021 are connected by no later than 30 June 2022, which is the date the court has deferred Analogue Switch Off date to.
“In addition, the Department will ensure that 260 868 households that registered between 31 October 2021 and 10 March 2022 are connected to their STBs by no later than 30 September 2022”, declared the department.
