Lets go digital... and follow the US model???

Hahaha I couldn't help but laugh when I read this article (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=15368). Basically it tells about the problems the Americans are currently having, in their quest to digitise their TV broadcasts. 

Now that leaves us with our own plans... SA good news posted this article back in 2008, while I applaud their positive attitude, do we really think that R700 per set-top box is going to drive the general public to go digital? And even with the subsidy is there really a chance of a family pooling their weekly wages for a set-top box. Hell R210 is still a lot of money, and can easily feed many mouths for the week.

Also the fact that the US spent much effort in advertising and education of the general populace, here in SA there has been NONE/NADA/NIKS. I guarrantee you, that the majority of consumers if asked about a digital signal will look at you blankly, and this is not taking into account those that are less knowledgable about technology.

But to leave Telkom out of this equation would be to miss an oppurtunity to slate them for any reason ;)
Surely, some blame, can be laid at the feet of this anti-progressive company, that is only interested in their own profit margin? If the back bone of SA communication was better and we had a half decent international internet connection SA would have the privilege of having pay per view internet shows or the likes. This would have at least made people more aware of a form of digital broadcasting, without lag. But alas we don't. Most of the time even utube suffers to my house. oooh it must be because I live in an established area and the copper wires haven't been upgraded in a while, which is causing your connection to suffer. No seriously that is the excuses I been given in the past. Even with the 'new' upgrades its no better and way to expensive to be called a service, Extortion more like it.

But in any case I digress... a lot... I just hope in short, that the SA government gets its act together and move on this digital advancement path it has embarked on. Learn a lesson from the Americans and lets do it better. PLEASE!!!!!

Finally its pretty sad that wikipedia is like the de-facto go to place to get information about your own countries plans...