digital migration
Advances in the use of ICTs have huge potential to offer better access to information and more freedom of expression, but these technology advances are also leading to growing consolidation and cross-ownership of electronic media platforms, built on the convergence of broadcast and broadband media.
For developing countries, digital broadcasting migration is yet another issue in a long list of challenges. In a new report written by Coura Fall for APC, the ICT (information and communication technology) expert explains that the transition presents more than economic challenges. Social challenges must also be taken into account.
As West Africa’s fifteen countries migrate to digital TV by 2015, the people responsible for the change-over in Ghana have been struggling to determine which technology to use. Meanwhile the process hasn’t developed much and most Ghanaians have not been informed of this upcoming migration, says the author of new research carried out for APC.
West-African countries are currently in a race against time to switch from analogue to digital broadcasting. A one-day regional workshop held by the West African Telecoms Regulators Assembly (WATRA) and ECOWAS helped establish recommendations and steps for going forward to help those countries undergoing the transition.
The Ghana analog to digital migration workshop brought together almost 40 key stakeholders from the different sectors and provided them with key information of the mandated migration and educated them of the urgency, consequences, cost and strategies that could be taken during this initiative.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Balancing Act, with support from the Open Society Institute (OSI), is undertaking an initiative which looks at the benefits and challenges that come with the transition to digital broadcasting in Africa.
Africa has committed to move to digital broadcasting by June 2015. In West Africa, very few countries have begun the migration. Rife with challenges, the process is daunting to most, with the benefits largely unclear. A new paper from APC and Balancing Act investigates.
African countries committed to migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2015 – but migration won’t be easy or cheap. Findings provide the data and tools for broadcasters and regulators to make informed decisions.
The digital migration in West Africa will be one of the biggest upheavals in African television since the medium was first launched on the continent in the 1960s. It is a process of change that will affect both the broadcasters themselves and those who watch television. And costs will be widely felt – particularly amongst the poor. As new digital TVs may need to be subsidised, it is not yet v...
The digital migration is probably going to be one of the biggest upheavals in African television since the medium was first launched on the continent. It is a process of change that will affect both the broadcasters themselves and those who watch television.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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