Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Vodacom’s Maziv deal gets makeover ahead of crucial hearing

      18 July 2025

      Cut electricity prices for data centres: Andile Ngcaba

      18 July 2025

      Takealot taps Mr D to deliver toys, pet food and future growth

      18 July 2025

      ‘Oh, Ani!’: Elon’s edgy bot stirs ethical storm

      18 July 2025

      Trump U-turn on Nvidia spurs talk of grand bargain with China

      18 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » New deadline might be set for digital migration

    New deadline might be set for digital migration

    By Ray Mahlaka21 December 2017
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    The ANC has agreed that SA’s migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television should happen in June 2019, the party’s communications subcommittee chairperson Jackson Mthembu confirmed on Wednesday.

    “This directive (for moving to digital) comes after the ANC talked to the government. We would have loved to do the migration earlier but there are difficulties in this equation,” Mthembu said at the final day of the ANC’s 54th elective conference, at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg.

    South Africa’s switch-over to digital has been stalled for over nine years, as the government has missed several self-imposed deadlines. The migration policy was first mooted in 2008.

    There’s reputation damage that comes with the lateness of moving to digital. Not only reputational damage but a cost that we have lost through our inability to migrate timorously

    The nub of the delays has been policy uncertainty mostly due to disagreements about the roll-out of set-top boxes — devices required for decoding digital signals for analogue television sets.

    “There’s reputation damage that comes with the lateness of moving to digital. Not only reputational damage but a cost that we have lost through our inability to migrate timeously.”

    Mthembu said government set the latest deadline for December 2018, but the ANC has given it an additional year. “There will be no extension to the deadline,” he said.

    The ANC national executive subcommittee on communications is responsible for overseeing South Africa’s migration to digital.

    The move to digital would be in line with global best practice and would free up more broadband for faster and more affordable Internet access. Other countries, including those in the African continent, are ahead of South Africa in terms of digital terrestrial television.

    Mired in controversy

    The migration policy has also been mired in controversy as tender manipulation allegations regarding the procurement of five million set-top boxes have emerged.

    More recently, allegations of bribery and corruption surfaced, implicating pay-TV firm MultiChoice in influencing government policy on the encryption of digital terrestrial signals and set-top boxes.

    MultiChoice, a subsidiary of media giant Naspers, allegedly made payments or kickbacks to Gupta-family founded television news channel ANN7 to secure a change in policy on the digital migration. The firm has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and has launched an investigation into the matter that will be led by the audit and risk committee on its board.

    MultiChoice, which operates DStv, is considered to be monopolistic in the SA pay-TV market. Mthembu said the ANC has ordered government to speed transformation in the pay-TV market to ensure that “there are no barriers to entry by black entrepreneurs and industrialists”.

    “We cannot afford this monopoly and just speak about it. We need to effect this radical economic transformation in this market as a matter of urgency.”

    The ANC is yet to issue its discussion documents that outline its resolutions on the pay-TV market and ICT sector more broadly.

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission


    ANN7 DStv Jackson Mthembu MultiChoice top
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleBitcoin as money? How it will happen
    Next Article Uber rival, China’s Didi, eyes global stage

    Related Posts

    MultiChoice: We can’t afford to compete without help

    17 July 2025

    South Africa loosens media ownership rules – but keeps one hand on the remote

    16 July 2025

    South Africa begins complex job of overhauling media laws

    13 July 2025
    Company News

    Vertiv to acquire custom rack solutions manufacturer

    18 July 2025

    SA businesses embrace gen AI – but strategy and skills are lagging

    17 July 2025

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.