Digital migration will bring jobs, says mayor

Mascot Digital terrestrial television mascot Mayihlome interacts with the audience at the Digital Migration Imbizo at the sports ground in Zibungu village
Mascot Digital terrestrial television mascot Mayihlome interacts with the audience at the Digital Migration Imbizo at the sports ground in Zibungu village
OR Tambo district mayor Nomakhosazana Meth has urged unemployed young people in one of her district’s poorest local municipalities to get ready for the benefits of the state’s broadcast digital migration (BDM) programme.

Addressing residents of Zibungu administrative area in Libode in Nyandeni local municipality during a nationwide digital migration awareness campaign at the weekend, Meth said the programme would bring employment opportunities and skills development to rural communities.

“It is an important step taken by the communications minister not to only prioritise cities and towns when it comes to digital migration awareness. We appreciate that rural areas such as Zibungu are given priority,” said Meth.

BDM is aimed at bridging the digital divide between those with access to digital and information technology and those with either very limited access or none at all. It involves the migration of broadcasting signals from analogue to digital.

As part of the shift, consumers need to purchase a set top box to access digital channels while poor rural communities will be subsidised by government. The boxes are manufactured in South Africa.

A communication campaign, Go Digital South Africa, will raise awareness and canvass support for the rollout of the programme until March 2018. The campaign outlines the benefits, processes and requirements of digital migration.

Muthambi was scheduled to address villagers in Zibungu at the weekend but apparently was prevented by bad weather. However, a statement issued by the department said the digital migration programme was not only about television, as it had many “spill over” benefits. Government was committed to ensuring all opportunities resulting from the rollout were fully explored for the benefit of the citizens, especially young children.

Meth, whose district is regarded as one of the poorest in the country, said the initiative would improve living conditions in rural areas and bring employment.

“Young people from rural areas will be trained as installers of the set top boxes while rural communities and children will be exposed to educational programmes through digital terrestrial transmission, which will bring more channels on television.

“This will bring about more opportunities for the young to be creators of content for film making and documentary making. Once there are more channels, there will be a great demand for content,” she added.

Meth said government had purchased up to five million set top boxes, with people who live in poor, remote areas like Zibungu set to get them free of charge.

subscribe

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.