WHAT DIGITAL TV REALLY MEANS

In 2006, a global project to migrate from analogue TV to digital TV was initiated during a telecommunications conference in Geneva. A deadline of June 2015 was set by which all broadcasters are expected to have migrated to the digital platform. Kenya has since followed suit in the global trends and has become the third country to commence her migration to digital TV in Africa. Following the presidential inauguration ceremony of digital TV at the Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation (KBC) transmitting station, debate has been brewing in the public domain. Of particular concerned is the migration cost from analogue to digital receptive television sets, by either purchasing a new compatible set or a digital converter. The government says the converter boxes should be priced at between Sh3,000 and Sh5,000 but consumers say they are currently priced at Sh10,000. At present, there are over 4 million household TV sets, most of which are not capable of processing the digital signal. The migration will therefore compel majority of Kenyans dig dipper into their pockets. However, consumers are oblivious of the benefits of digital television and reasons behind the world’s migration trend from the traditional vestigial wideband analogue transmission to the modern narrowband digital transmission.

By definition, Digital television (DTV) is the sending and receiving of moving images and sound by discrete signals. The signals can be transmitted through air, copper or fiber optic medium. There are various methods of receiving the transmitted digital signals. The most common is Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) which broadcasts land based signals and uses an aerial, same as one for an analogue signal, on the receiving end. This requires Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVBT) enabled TV set or an MPEG-4 digital converter. Another method is by use of a digital cable from a cable television company. The signal can be delivered using coaxial cable or fiber optic cable. Digital television can also be received via the Internet Protocol (IP), usually referred to as IPTV, using a Broadband connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The last method that can be used is by using handheld devices such as smart phones, which have been configured to receive the signals through a mobile provider’s network.

Digital television presents a number of opportunities to the Kenyan Information and Communication Technology Industry (ICT) industry. DTV has several advantages over analog TV, the most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth, and the bandwidth needs are continuously variable, at a corresponding reduction in image quality depending on the level of compression as well as the resolution of the transmitted image. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital channels in the same space, provide high-definition television service, or provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity. DTV also permits special services such as multiplexing (more than one program on the same channel), electronic program guides (EPG) and additional languages (spoken or subtitled). Engineers and software developers could also benefit from installation business and development of software that will help record programmes for later viewing.

The Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation’s (KBC) test runs will focus on the first method due to its infrastructural economics in terms of transmission and receiving equipment, the other methods would call for higher capital expenditure if they were to have country-wide coverage. The service is being operated by Signet, a subsidiary of the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), specifically set up to broadcast and distribute the DTT signals. As the government works on subsidizing or providing incentives for consumers to purchase compliant equipment, University of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta University are said to have taken up the challenge to develop locally assembled analogue to digital converters. Digital television signals will not interfere with the analogue signals, and they will coexist with analog television until it is phased out. Currently, the transmission covers Nairobi and its environs, among them Kajiado, Machakos, Naivasha and Murang’a. From these areas, from a digital-enabled television set, your can be able to enjoy good picture quality and a Telezine. A telezine, an acronym for television magazine, is a user-interactive menu from which a viewer can get information from the television station such news update, company profile and so on by simply using the remote control.

The digital TV coverage is expected to gradually spread to the rest of the country to pave way to the complete migration by the year 2012. The complete switch to digital broadcasting is expected to cost Sh6 billion (USD 80 million) and an initial Sh152 million (USD 2 million) has already been allocated. Broadcasters will be required to sign transmission contracts with Signet upon licensing by the CCK. Signet will carry private broadcasters signals free of charge, but will charge for its services after 2012. This means that broadcasters will concentrate on content development as opposed to incurring costs on none core business issues such as building and maintaining infrastructure. However, this model poses some challenges in its deployment. Technically, it introduces a single point of failure for national broadcasting. If the Signet transmission base is down, the entire country could be thrown into a television ‘blackout’. Secondly, a state owned transmission company is prone to political interference especially in transmitting content unfriendly to the government. The Kenya Media Owners Association has already expressed its concerns with the role of Signet. During the inaugural ceremony, the Standard Group vice-chairman, Mr. Paul Melly, said that his concern was that the service provider is KBC, which is owned by the government. He emphasized that the media industry wants to be assured that Signet will play its role properly.

Currently, the demand for new TV and radio broadcasting frequencies surpasses the supply by a huge margin. There are over 60 applications for TV licenses and more than 150 for FM radio. DTV will reduce the bandwidth consumption for TV transmission by up to 10%. This will provide room for additional broadcasters or bandwidth allocation to non-television services. The sale of non-television services may provide an additional revenue source. Telco companies in Kenya can also provide the DTV signal over their infrastructure in additional to the voice and data services. This was typical in the US where the coaxial cable network was used to provide Internet and cable TV services. Internet Service Providers can deliver DTV using broadband connections, increasing revenues from the consumer requirements of additional bandwidth to cater for the IPTV service. As mobile service providers in Kenya continue invent value added services for their subscribers, DTV will feature significantly. Safaricom has already signed an agreement with Nokia and DMTV concerning a Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld (DVB-H) mobile TV service in the country. The agreement will enable Safaricom subscribers to watch DSTV's menu of TV programmes from certain Nokia mobile phones.

The challenge is for the broadcasters now is to generate adequate local content that will enable them to run the stations 24 hours. This could not have come at a better time, when the Kenyan audience is warming up to local movies, operas, music, documentaries and so on and so forth. The local artists will benefit from the demand of their talents by the broadcasters to develop content. As of late 2009, 10 countries had completed the process of turning off analog terrestrial broadcasting. Many other countries had plans to do so or were in the process of a staged conversion. The first country to make a wholesale switch to digital over-the-air (terrestrial) broadcasting was Luxembourg, in 2006, followed by the Netherlands later in 2006, Finland, Andorra, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland in 2007, Belgium (Flanders) and Germany in 2008, and the United States, Denmark, South Africa and Kenya in 2009.