Local content needed for DTT

"As South Africans, we've been watching too much international content and that needs to stop. South Africa is diverse and we would need South Africans to tell their own stories... we will need more local content," said the Minister.

She said the department was aware that for this to be realised there was a need for more funding, therefore the funding model of SABC was being prioritised.

She explained that with the digital migration will come many new channels.

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Minister Muthambi was speaking about the rolling out of government's broadcasting digital migration programme during a New Age business briefing in Johannesburg on Monday.

The Minister said young people, women and people with disabilities should be at the forefront of producing local content for the public broadcaster.

"I see more opportunities coming with the DTT, that's the reality. We need more local content, so we are saying to young people, women and people with disabilities grab this opportunity to liberate yourselves from economic hardships," she said.

Minister Muthambi said while huge strides have been made in the digital migration programme, the project will only be a success if all stakeholders work together with government to deliver the project.

"We need everybody to be part of this massive programme, the success of this project is to work together to avoid any unnecessary delays to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting system," she said.

She added that imbizos were being held to explain to people the reasons for the migration and in due course the department will be embarking on a consumer awareness campaign throughout the country.

Asked about the state of readiness of South Africa to migrate to digital broadcasting, Minister Muthambi said: "We mean business. We are hard at work and so much has been achieved, so we can tell the nation that digital migration is upon them and we are going to deliver it, yes we are ready."

COO of the SABC Hlaudi Motsoeneng said the public broadcaster had put aside more than R600m for provincial content, up from R100m.

"We've improved tremendously. The SABC is testing all the channels and we are proud to announce that we are ready to migrate," he said.

Head of Digital Migration at the department, Solly Mokoetle said missing the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline to migrate should not be considered as a major problem for now.

He added that the exchange of content in the SADC region would be a critical issue in terms of sharing of stories to foster unity amongst people.

Chief Whip of the ANC for the Portfolio Committee on Postal and Telecommunications, Dikeledi Tsotetsi, said the committee was happy with the manner in which Minister Muthambi is driving the implementation of the digital migration project.

"As a committee, we confident that they will deliver this project," she said.