Africa-Press – Botswana. The migration by Botswana from analogue to digital broadcasting which brought about the use of the set-top box was meant to give Batswana ease of access to local content.
This was explained by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for State President, Ms Goitsemang Morekisi, before the Public Account Committee on July 25.
Ms Morekisi said the ease of access was in the fact that the decoder had a once off cost as it was a free-to-air.
“Customers only incurred costs once off when buying the decoder,”she said. “This enabled many ordinary Batswana who could not afford subscribed content to still access national content.”
She said this also informed the decision to broadcast important events like the live parliament proceedings through the set-top box.
Ms Morekisi explained that the move from analogue to digital was necessary, and that the decision by government to adopt the Japanese rather than the European standard system of analogue broadcasting was informed by a benchmarking exercise on both systems, as well as expert advice.
She however said government was aware that only a handful of people used the set-top box.
“We are aware of the need for more public education on the use of the decoder,” she said.
She said that the department was currently doing a viewership survey, which she said would inform them better on the level of usage and viewership through the set-top box.
“Currently from face value, we have not seen any drops in viewership because of the use of the said device. Even our three providers have not raised any concern of lack of business,” she said.
Ms Morekisi was responding after the chairman of the committee, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi, asked what informed the government to broadcast live parliamentary proceedings on a channel that only broadcasts on the set-top box, which he said many Batswana did not have.
He said that many Batswana still lacked public education on the use of the decoder.
He also wondered how government was getting value for money through the use of the decoder if only a few people used it.A member of the committee, Mr Polson Majaga, advised that more public education on the use of the decoder should be done, with officers dedicated to the task.
Meanwhile, the committee resolved that a report should be compiled on the status of manufacturing machines that were bought for various poverty eradication projects across the country.
This was after it emerged that most of them were lying idle countrywide due to break-downs after only a few years of use.
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