Cape Town - As South Africa’s digital migration wave gathers momentum, free-to-air TV stations such as Cape Town TV (CTV) are still signalling Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to include them in the planning for the big analogue switch off.
CTV station manager Karen Thorne said she had written to Minister Ntshavheni seeking representation on the Broadcast Digital Migration Project steering committee, but they have yet to receive an invitation.
Thorne said that as a result, CTV had not been given the opportunity to voice concerns on the issue which would have significant impact on viewer numbers.
Repeated requests from the Cape Argus to the minister for comment on the issue since last week have been ignored.
Thorne said although they fully understood the urgency with which spectrum must be released to allow for cheaper telecommunications and faster broadband internet, there was a simple compromise to be had.
She said there was undue haste by the minister to switch off all frequencies, including those that haven’t even been sold off to telecom operators.
“The frequency that Cape Town TV is licensed to use is 591.35MHz, which is below the ceiling of frequencies that have been sold off in the frequency auction.
“We are simply asking for the opportunity to continue using these frequencies for a reasonable period of time to allow our viewers to migrate.”
Meanwhile the ministry appears to be steaming ahead with its plans, a situation which has activists on the #SaveFreeTV campaign worried.
In a Twitter post yesterday the campaign said: “The government is pushing viewers to migrate to any digital service rather than specifically to DTT (Digital Terrestrial Transmission).”
They said this would mean that the pay TV platforms would benefit from the lack of digital reception devices in the market at the expense of free-to-air channels on the DTT platform.
“As #SaveFreeTV Campaign, we believe this will further entrench inequality in South Africa between those spoiled for choice and those left without any TV access at all.”
As #SaveFreeTV Campaign, we believe this will further entrench inequality in South Africa between those spoiled for choice and those left without any TV access at all.#DigitalMigration#AnalogueSwitchOff#SaveFreeTV pic.twitter.com/bBhZdEl3sj
— savefreetv (@savefreetv) November 2, 2022
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za