The June 17, 2015, digital Migration deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union for member nations especially in Nigeria is fast becoming a reality as stakeholders are gearing up for the transition process.
However, the pioneer and sole licensed Digital terrestrial Television (DTT) Operator in Nigeria, StarTimes, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek it was ready for the process with the much needed set up boxes.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has taken upon itself to successfully speed up the process by starting the digital migration with a test city – Jos, on 5th of June 2014 which will be replicated in other major cities.
The transition from analog to digital broadcasting involves many changes of the transmission signals as well as making sure that members of the public buy high definition television sets and get rid of standard definition television sets.
The transition to digital broadcasting will mark the end of free television programmes.
However, television sets that receive analog signals via antenna (these antennas have analog funers) will be out of place in the digital era. In this state of affairs, old antennas will need to be upgraded to meet up with the technology.
Digital signals are routinely transmitted using terrestrial methods.
The transmission method has different names in different parts of the world. DVB-T is the name used in Europe, Australia and Africa. DVB-T allows service providers to match, and even improve on, analogue coverage – at a fraction of the power.
Irete Anetor, public relations manager of StarTimes told Nigeria CommunucationsWeek that the transmission method extends the scope of digital terrestrial television into the mobile field, which was simply not possible before.
“The digital signals after migration is transmitted using DVB-T and they go from aerial antenna to aerial antenna, from signal blaster to home receiver. StarTimes is ready to give Nigerians the digital broadcasting they deserve,” he said.
However, the DVB-T broadcasters transmit data using a compressed digital audio-video stream, with the entire process based on the MPEG-2 standard.
These transmissions can include all kinds of digital broadcasting, including HDTV and other high-intensity methods.
This is a vast improvement over the old analog signals, which required separate streams of transmission. Oddly enough, some DVB-T transmissions take place over analog networks, with the antennas and receivers getting some helpful technological upgrades along the way.
As the days draw near, the focus shouldn’t just be on the availability of set up boxes but also on the quality of the DVB T Technology of the set up boxes.
NTA-STAR TV Network Ltd- StarTimes is a joint venture between Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) of Nigeria and Star Communication Network CO, Limited of China and was incorporated in August 2009 as a private limited liability company. The company was officially launched on the 29th of July 2010.
The immediate mandate of the joint venture is to provide pay TV services, using digital terrestrial television (DTT) technology to build a multiple frequency platform.
The project intends on the long term, to expand its business concerns to include provision of advertisement and signal transfer services, mobile phone television as well as wireless internet services.
Operations of StarTimes Digital Terrestrial Television (Popularly known as DTT) first commenced in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Port-Harcourt and in 2012 StarTimes extended her services to 11 more cities which include: Aba, Benin, Enugu, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Makurdi, Onitsha, Sokoto, Uyo and Yola.
In 2013, its spreads it’s Digital Terrestrial strength to 16 more cities and they are Abeokuta, Akure, Oshogbo, Lokoja, Zaria, Kastina, Gusau, Minna, Lafia, Owerri, Awka, Warri, Calabar, Suleja, Binin-Kebbi and Yanegoa.
“It’s the desire of StarTimes to cover the remaining states before the end of 2014,” Anetor added.