All Roads Lead To Digital Migration

The Kenyan government has been toying with the idea of adopting the shift from analogue to digital TV frequency signals since 2009. In a new project being handled by the Ministry of ICT and the CCK, it is finally turning into a reality. There are estimated to be about 1.2 million working TV sets in Nairobi and its environs and these will all be affected in the first phase of the migration project set to go live on 13th December2013. What this means is that if you do not have a set top box or a Pay TV service like DSTV or Zuku installed by this date, you will no longer be able to watch broadcast TV in your home or office. This does not mean, however, that you need a new digital TV; what you need is a TV that has audio and video inputs and a government approved set top box. How this works – it converts the digital signal into an analogue one that can be consumed by your old TV as long as it’s connected.

The main reason Kenya is effecting this change is to honour a treaty signed in 2006 at the Regional Radio Communication Conference that set the analogue-to-digital migration for all countries at 17th June 2015. The idea is to release the analogue frequencies to be used more efficiently for other technologies and innovations such as the successful Microsoft’s Mawingu initiative. Using the digital signal has its advantages like being able to fit about 20 stations in the same frequency space where you’d have had just one station on analogue. This will of course mean we will require more content from producers in the country to fill the gap. You will now get a better and sharper picture quality that is free from noise/interference, HD broadcast capability, and Electronic Program Guides in-built in the set top boxes to guide and give menu-style information to viewers on other channels available. You will also set reminders on future programs that are being broadcast.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has given certificates to all point of sale dealers as proof that a dealer is selling government approved set top boxes to the public. This migration from analogue to digital is perhaps the biggest shift in the television industry since black and white to colour TVs and is a welcome move to push Kenya into a more productive world.

For more, visit http://digitalkenya.go.ke

By George Murage