Ga-Mothapo – Kgoshigadi Moremadi Mothapo says she will actively promote the participation of youth in cultural activities in order to generate content for the new television channels that will come with digital migration.
“As a traditional leader, I am excited that government decided to bring the digital migration awareness campaign to our area… One way of making sure that our youth are not missing out on the benefits of digital migration is encouraging them to participate in cultural activities in order to generate content for the new channels [that will] come with the television revolution.
“I am of the view that digital migration will assist the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to deepen its 90 percent local content,” she said.
Mothapo was speaking during the digital migration awareness campaign led by Communications Minister Faith Muthambi in Ga-Mothapo outside Polokwane in Limpopo on Friday.
Mothapo said in certain villages in the area, TV reception is poor. “Poor signal for cell phones is a major problem but we are glad that the Minister is aware of this situation and we hope that she will prioritise to resolve it.”
Minister Muthambi, who was impressed by the number of people registering for set-top boxes (STBs) during the awareness campaign, said: “Digital migration is here and it is exciting to see the majority of poor TV-owning households registering for STBs. It clearly indicates that our people can’t wait any more to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting.
“The distribution of STBs in this area will be a major boost for all qualifying TV-owning households, as TV reception is very poor.”
During the campaign, more than 200 poor TV-owning households submitted their applications for STBs. In order to view digital television signals on an ordinary analogue television set, consumers will need a STB, which converts digital broadcasting signals.
If viewers have not acquired a STB by the time the analogue signal is switched off, they will no longer be able to view the existing terrestrial television broadcasting services.
After realising that there is slow registration uptake by citizens due mainly to the TV licence requirement, Minister Muthambi, together with the SABC, has since resolved to delink the TV licence requirement from the STB subsidy registration process.
Since Minister Muthambi officially launched the registration of STBs in the Northern Cape last year, over 12 000 households have registered with the South African Post Office to receive STBs.
The provinces that have already started with the registration process of STBs are Northern Cape, Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga.
To qualify for a free STB, applicants must prove that they are South African citizens and that their household income is R3 200 or less per month.
The Department of Communications will announce the analogue signal switch-off date when more than 80% of households across the country have been migrated to the digital television platform.
Digital migration involves shifting broadcasters from analogue to digital signals, and the process is key for opening up more frequencies and faster mobile broadband services. - SAnews.gov.za
