Pretoria – Bushbuckridge residents will on Friday learn more about the digital migration process that will change the way broadcasting works in South Africa.
South Africa, along with other countries around the world, is switching from analogue to digital broadcasting. Communications Minister Faith Muthambi will visit Bushbuckridge to educate the community about the digital migration process and how it will change the way television is viewed.
Minister Muthambi will explain to the community why it is necessary for the country to move from analogue to digital television. She will also outline the economic benefits that come with digital migration.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will also visit Bushbuckridge with the Minister.
In order to view digital television signals on an ordinary analogue television set, consumers will need a set-top box. The set-top box converts the digital broadcasting signal for reception on an ordinary analogue television set.
More than five million poor household owners with TV sets will receive free set-top boxes from government. The process of registering households that qualify for free set-top boxes was launched by Minister Muthambi on 2 October 2015 in the Northern Cape’s Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area, where 192 applications were processed within the first five days.
In the last four weeks, about 1 000 qualifying households have registered to receive set-top boxes.
“The household registration for set-top boxes in the Northern Cape is gaining traction,” Minister Muthambi said.
She said this was a great milestone in the digital migration process.
The South African Post Office, which is the distributing agent for the set-top boxes, will be onsite on Friday to explain the process of registering households that qualify to receive subsidised set-top boxes. – SAnews.gov.za
