Many of the details of the process for migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial television still need to be debated and finalised, including who will qualify for subsidised set-top boxes, says communications minister Roy Padayachie.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Padayachie says the biggest obstacle facing digital TV is finalisation of the “set-top box access control mechanism”. He says there are a number of problems around access control, the first of which is the “perplexing question of encryption” and whether or not it should be a requirement.

The department of communications is considering the impact encryption would have on the cost of the boxes, he says. “We are told that the cost of encryption may add US$4 to the box.”

This additional cost, he says, may be untenable.

The second obstacle is deciding who should own the system of access control. At first, control was expected to be given to incumbent broadcasters. But Padayachie says the department now considers this a poor choice.

“Control must be in the hands of the state, not the existing broadcasters, so that as the broadcast terrain changes, newcomers aren’t disadvantaged by existing players having deeply entrenched themselves.”

It is important that the move to digital TV results in new entrants emerging, he adds and that there is “skills transfer from established companies to newcomers”.

Padayachie says the department is still deciding which factors will decide who is eligible for subsidised set-top boxes and it is essential there be a “fraud-proof system of distribution to ensure the right beneficiaries get subsidised boxes”.

The department is “still to be convinced that the methods proposed thus far are fool-proof”. Padayachie says the department will talk to the Universal Service & Access Agency of SA about the process and “will make the necessary adjustments”.

He says both the Independent Communications Authority of SA and the access agency “have essential roles to play in terms of regulation and policy surrounding digital TV”.

Padayachie says the department wants set-top box manufacturing to be “decentralised”, rather than concentrated in Gauteng, and that discussions around their manufacture are ongoing.

He says government has a “credible policy” for black empowerment and plays down criticism from some members of parliament that “business is dominated by the Naidoos and Guptas of SA”. He says this perception is “worrying and incorrect”. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral