Digital TV beckons for South Africa’s Free State


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Rebecca Hawkes

| 06 January 2016




South Africa’s Free State is next in line for migration to digital terrestrial television (DTT), with subsidised set-top boxes (STBs) expected in the province in early February 2016.



The announcement by the Department of Communications (DOC) follows the installation of the first government-subsidised STBs in the Northern Cape last month. Some 23,000 digital-ready STBs were being distributed free of charge to the community around the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area from 17 December 2015.

Registration for those on low incomes to get STBs to receive DTT signals began in the Free State in December, reports ITWeb. “As per the Digital Switch-On (DSO) and Analogue Switch-Off (ASO) plan ... The installation phase for STBs in the Free State is earmarked to commence in February 2016,” Mishack Molakeng, DOC spokesperson told the publication.

The DSO programme commences on 1 February following the South African cabinet’s approval of the interim dual-illumination period, where digital broadcasting runs alongside analogue transmissions.

South Africa missed the 17 June 2015 deadline set by the ITU for all countries to migrate to digital television. However, TV services in South Africa will reach almost 13.3 million homes by the end of 2018, growing 10% from current predominantly analogue penetration rates, according to a recent forecast by Dataxis.