Broadcasters want DTT incentive

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor

Johannesburg, 07 Nov 2008

The digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process will have a significant financial impact on broadcasters, which are looking to be incentivised during the dual illumination period.

The long anticipated switch from analogue to digital has the broadcasters in chambers with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) in the hopes that an incentive scheme can be agreed upon.

Speaking at a briefing held yesterday at SABC's Radio Park, etv channel director Bronwyn Keene-Young said the dual illumination period, which is expected to last for three years, will be an enormous financial burden on the broadcasters.

“Broadcasters will be broadcasting on two platforms, without any additional revenue,” she said. Essentially, the likes of etv, M-Net and SABC will have to broadcast the same channel twice for three years, once in analogue and the other in digital.

SABC acting CEO Gab Mampone said advertisers are unlikely to pay for the same broadcast spot twice, limiting the advertising revenue the broadcasters can bring in over the next three years. “It will be a difficult financial period for the broadcasters,” added Keene-Young.

Neither M-Net, nor etv, are subsidised in the way the public broadcaster was. Government has allocated funding for the national broadcaster SABC to complete its migration, with costs for infrastructure reaching R700 million.

However, Keene-Young admitted that both M-Net and etv had an easier time during the initial migration period, since both companies already had digital internal infrastructure in place, while SABC has had to transform an entire analogue network to digital.

Each of the broadcasters now has access to a number of new channels, which will only be available in digital. This has also raised concerns for the three companies, since they will have to produce new content for what may well be a limited audience for the next three years.

ICASA councillor Robert Nkuna said yesterday that an incentive proposal has been drafted and is on the table and the authority is in discussions with the broadcasters to find a solution.