Communications minister Dina Pule has announced that government has pushed back the deadline to switch to digital terrestrial television.

Government was aiming for a deadline of April 2012, but despite their best efforts, they have realised there is still too much to do before the switchover to digital is possible.

There are several reasons for the delay, including that government has not released a set-top box (STB) manufacturing policy for the decoder. In addition the South African Bureau of Standards is only expected to finalise the specification for STBs next month. 

The minister indicated that the government is aiming for the third quarter of 2012 for the switchover. The deadline for switching off analogue broadcasters remains December 2013, but the minister warned that it might be affected. The international switch-off date for analogue TV is 17 June 2015

She said: “However, we will work with industry so even if the date is affected, it doesn’t go way beyond the expected date. We want to ensure we do our best, but that can only happen if we work together with the (information and communications technology) industry.”