Digital migration to kick-off in South Africa's Northern Cape
Tuesday, September 29th, 2015Minister of Communications Ms Faith Muthambi takes the first TV households registration process to the Square Kilometre Array area, Keimoes, Northern Cape
Minister of Communications Ms Faith Muthambi will take the first digital terrestrial television milestone, the households registration process for set-top-boxes to the Square Kilometre Array community of Keimoes, Kai Garib Municipality, Northern Cape on the 2nd of October 2015.
“This is a very important milestone in the digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration project. This means that households with television sets in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area will now receive fully subsidised set-top-boxes once they have completed the registration process,” said Muthambi.
More than 5 million poor household owners with TV sets will receive free set set-top-boxes from government. Government will distribute 16 thousand set-top- boxes free to the Northern Cape community.
“The SKA area in the Northern Cape was identified as the place where the DTT will start. We have set ourselves the target of concluding the migration from analogue to digital here in the Northern Cape by the 1st of January 2016,” added Muthambi.
This is the first registration process for indigent TV households since the digital terrestrial television policy was gazetted by parliament on the 18th of March 2015.
Households in the districts that form part of the SKA radio telescope must visit their local post office from the 1st of October 2015 to apply for a subsidised television decoder.
Analogue television transmissions interfere with the signals received by the SKA telescope and for that reason; analogue television transmissions in this area will be replaced by digital transmission from the 1st of January 2016. As this is a compulsory switch over, all households in the area qualify for a subsidised decoder.
Towns around SKA area in the Northern Cape include: Brandvlei, Britstown, Calvinia, Carnavon, Fraserburg, Groblershoop, Kakamas, Keimoes, Kenhardt, Loeriesfontein, Marydale, Nieuwoudtville, Pofadder, Springbok, Sutherland, Vanwyksvlei, Victoria West and Williston.
Stakeholders from the Presidency, the Department of Science and Technology and the Northern Cape Premier’s Office, will attend the launch of the registration process.
“It is imperative to inform South Africans why we will be migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting, and the economic benefits that come with digital migration,” said Muthambi.
The Department of Communications’ stakeholders such as the SABC and the Independent Communications Authority of SA will be present at this event. The South African Post Office, which is the distributing agent for the set-top-box devices on behalf of government, will also be onsite on the day to explain the process of registering TV households. The technical team will also conduct a live demonstration on how the television picture quality will look following digital migration.
Event details:
Date: Friday, 2 October 2015
Venue: Keimoes, Kai Garib Municipality, Northern Cape
Time: 09h00
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