One thing the people who were celebrating (or still are) cabinet’s endorsement of the digital television migration might have overlooked is that the programme might need money to ensure that the country’s majority (who are HDIs) have are not denied access to information.
The main challenge as the cut-off date nears is that Sentech does not have sufficient funds to manage the process beyond the year of dual illumination, according to Sentech’s chief operating officer, Kganki Matabane.
Government is looking at subsidising the cost of decoders to 5 million households with a low income. And without funds this won’t be possible. Estimates put the cost at R3 billion. Civil society groups say as many as 7 million households might need assistance.
Digital illumination is the transition from analogue to digital television process. This is the time government allocates to convert all analogue viewers to digital viewers through the addition of a decoder and an antenna to the old television set.
