By Jide Ajani and Adekunle Adekoya
IT was Friday 12 October, it was afternoon, and the place was Soweto, the black township in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Earlier on Thursday, we had participated in a Digital Dialogue Conference powered by global pay TV leader, Multichoice Africa. The issue was migration by African countries from analog to digital broadcasting. What's more, not many Africans (especially Nigerians) know that a 2015 deadline slammed by the International Telecommunications Union exists in this regard. Thus, in three years from now, everybody would need a set top box (decoder) to be able to receive signals from free-on-air TV stations. More about that later!
The day had begun on an equable note; the cool weather that nearly sixty journalists from nine African countries had endured was getting colder, especially at the rooftop of Multichoice Africa's headquarters in Randburg. The journalists had been on a tour of the sprawling complex, and split into three groups, walked through various aspects of Multichoice operations. For some, they were seeing for the first time the processes and operations that ensure how what comes on TV at home or in the office, gets there.
After the tour, the newsmen gathered at an amphitheatre where they took in yet another presentation which was to be the last of formal presentations in the event.
Thence, it was time for lunch, and from Randburg, we took off for Soweto. After the lunch, it was time yet for another tour; we were to see households already using the set top boxes to receive free-on-air TV in South Africa. Multichoice had sample households that did not have DsTV but just plain, ordinary TV sets and depended on what SABC and others broadcast for their viewing entertainment.
The first house we got to, the occupants were not available. Three houses from there resides an old woman who participated in the Multichoice sample but she had gone to the market.
Eventually, our group got to House no 10386 A, Maliwa Street, also in Soweto. There we met an old woman, a septuagenarian who warmly welcomed us and showed us into her pleasant but homely, if cramped living room. Against one wall reclined a divider in which nestled a 21-inch concave screen TV set. On top of it sat a brownish small box, which we later saw was the set top box, or STB.
The woman, Mrs Lydia Moyo told us that ever since she had the STB, images on her TV had become sharper, and devoid of static when switching between channels. In fact she listed her favourite channels which she now enjoys as if they were pay TV stations.
But Mrs Moyo is just a sample. Like Nigeria, much of South Africans are just getting into the Digital Terrestrial Technology thing in TV broadcast and reception, but it seems those who can afford pay TV are less bothered. That leaves poor folk, who in most cases form bulk of the population, in the lurch.
For Nigeria, what are the issues?
Managing Director, South African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA), Koenie Schutte, while presenting a paper, entitled "Preparing for the Transition of TV Broadcasting Services to Digital," was categorical that Africa would not meet the 2015 deadline but said it was safer for Africa to take longer and get it right.
"Digital broadcast means there will be at least a 36% increase of spectrum and the mobile operators have their eyes on that; not switching will make life very difficult. Not switching to digital will eventually affect the economy, hence, limiting development because of the vast revenue generating opportunities that come with digital," he added.
Supremo of Strategic Outcomes, Jenkins Alumona who led the Nigerian delegation to the talkshop wants the Nigerian government to take the digital migration issues more seriously if the country must enjoy the benefits, which include freeing frequencies and sale of spectrum, among others.
"I believe government needs to take the digital migration process more seriously and take a lead from what companies like Multichoice are doing. One of the most vital aspects of the process is communication. Our more than 150 million people and our more than 20 million TV households need information and education on what digital migration is and how it will work and the time to start is now.
"Government has huge financial benefits from the sale of free spectrum and so should ensure the people understand exactly what is happening," Alumona added.
He said it was imperative that consumers were aware of what was happening as this would help them in making a choice of the kind of television sets to acquire to save money.
But intriguing was one of the questions raised during the main presentation at the Sandton Conference Centre.
During one of the presentations, specifically the one by Beth Thoren, the lady who headed the publicity sub-committee for the migration in Britain, one of the editors from Nigeria had asked for suggestions on how to handle the usually complex politico-sentimental dimensions embedded in almost every policy of government.
The question centred on the mid-2015 deadline for digital migration and the challenges envisaged in a country of conflicting interests and egos to wit: That the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government which sits atop the affairs of state at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja is never going to meet the deadline but would be sure to introduce shambles into the process of engaging a migration; that in the run up to catch (which it would not in an orderly, simple manner), it would engage a frenzied mode by the third quarter of 2014; that in the run up, some areas of the country (read urban areas) may migrate while other parts of the country may be left in the lurch; that the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, a party that appears to have mastered the art of propaganda may draw an inference from an alleged attempt by government to deliberately cause some of its potential areas of support signal disconnect (which in simple terms means advertisement on television for the areas yet to successfully migrate may either be useless or unproductive since they may not be aired; and that how can such a scenario be effectively handled? Confused?
Sure, after the question, even the compeer, Aki Anastasiou, a South African journalist, could not come to terms with the realities of the question and such a far-fetched possibility.
Because this is Nigeria, anything is possible.
Though Nigeria may be thousands of kilometers away from South Africa, the 98year-old Lydia Moyo is still watching her television, oblivious of the potential shambles Nigeria would subject the same experiment she is enjoying in Soweto, to.
Vanguard Nigeria