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An analogue tv seen in a room.
The organisation, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) says the postponement of the analogue switch-off is not surprising but the fact that only a few set-top boxes have been installed since the Constitutional Court order in 2022 is startling.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi earlier announced in a statement that the deadline for the analogue switch-off has been extended to the end of March next year.
He said this was to allow as many South Africans as possible to migrate before the final switch-off.
I can confirm that cabinet granted an extension of the deadline for analogue switch-off from 31 December 2024 to 31 March 2025.
We have communicated this decision to the broadcasters and relevant stakeholders in a meeting today and commit to continue working together with them… pic.twitter.com/wbjSHZ9JSY
— SollyMalatsi (@SollyMalatsi) December 5, 2024
“What we need to see now is a very clear target and the minister also explained that they are going to reveal what their plans are for accelerating installation. But we need to know of the people that have had these installed, are they still functioning? The government is really going to have to shift away from this idea that they don’t tell what is going on, to telling us in detail what’s going on so that the broadcasters and SABC in particular can prepare and make sure that they aren’t going to lose millions of viewers. Because to be clear if SABC were to lose those millions of viewers, SABC’s financial crisis would be even greater than it already is,” says MMA Director William Bird.
VIDEO |Bird says government needs to be held accountable for failure to roll out set boxes.
