Gone are the days in Namibia where one would stand up and battle to adjust the aerial of their television set to get better reception or a better picture quality, so as to watch their favorite drama or soap opera on the national broadcasting station, ever since Namibia embarked on the migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting format. 
So far a handful of Namibians have warmed up to the digitalization with several families expressing excitement over the much improved picture and sound quality, while some feel the migration from analogue to digital has a long way to go.
Currently Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has seven channels on its DTT bouquet with more channels set to follow.
Florence Kazondunge said although she faced some initial technical challenges in the operation of the decoder, she is enjoying her new viewing experience.
“The channels are now more and very educational. The picture is much clear and better than analogue,” she said.
Kleopas Kristian from Katutura in the capital Windhoek shared the same sentiment and said that he and his family are enjoying digital television.
“Ever since acquiring this decoder, my family and I have enjoyed quality time together watching programs of a better quality. Since a variety of programs have been introduced for the younger generation, my children spend more time indoors rather than roaming in the streets, especially this time around when school children are on their holiday break,” he said.
Namibia is among the top four countries in southern Africa that have embarked on the Analogue Switch Off (ASO) exercise and has up to date managed to pass the target that had been set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation population coverage with a digital television signal currently stands at 70 percent, which is above the SADC target of 67 percent coverage by mid-June 2015.
Up to date 50,000 decoders have been acquired by NBC viewers at a subsidized price of 200 Namibian dollars( about 16.7 U.S. dollars).
Despite having achieved some of these targets, not all the viewers have been happy with the process. Jenny Sitole said she regrets buying the decoder as some of the channels at the moment often get scrambled. “The only channel that is currently working properly is NBC1 and the rest often scramble at will,” she said.
“I should have stuck to the conventional DStv decoder even if I have to pay an extra fee to get entertained. The migration is far from complete,” she added.
On the other hand the Director-General of the NBC, Albertus Aochamub said “progress has exceeded our best estimates and we are confident that the best is yet to come.”
According to Aochamub, NBC has so far installed DTT transmitters at 28 of its 56 television transmitter sites, most of which have already been commissioned.
The broadcaster recently completed its fourth phase of ASO in the country with the fifth phase to be completed at the end of this month. The main analogue transmitters have already been switched off, with 46.9 percent of the population now receiving only the digital signal.
“These figure will increase to 60.7 percent by July 2015 following the switch-off of more analogue transmitters,” he added.
Aochamub stressed that some of the challenges of broadcasting in Namibia include the fact that Namibia is a large country, thus requiring a large number of transmitters and it is also sparsely populated, resulting in a relatively high cost per viewer.
“There are also high costs involved of local productions for a relatively small audience compared to other countries,” he added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
