Set-top boxes on hold amid encryption row
THE manufacture and procurement of set-top boxes, which will be required when digital migration occurs, has been halted pending the conclusion of the legal battle over the nonencryption of the converters, Parliament heard on Thursday.The move will further delay migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, which is required to free up broadband spectrum and boost connectivity.The Universal Services and Access Agency of SA (Usaasa), which is implementing the digital migration process, addressed a joint meeting of the portfolio committee on communications and telecommunications and postal service.The agency said it had decided to "err on the side of caution" and suspend the manufacture and procurement of new set-top boxes until the Constitutional Court has ruled on the validity of an alteration to the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy, which states that state-subsidised set-top boxes should not be capable of encrypting broadcasting signals.The alteration was introduced by Commu...
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