Illegal DTT set-top boxes infiltrate the Sou African market

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Illegal DTT set-top boxes infiltrate the South African market --

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:26

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Illegal DTT set-top boxes, which receive free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) test channels and offer recording to external storage device capabilities, are being sold at markets in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The STBs do not meet the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) specifications, raising concerns with local manufacturers who have invested in producing compliant Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial, version 2 standard (DVB-T2) STBs, and broadcasters alike.

Due to a lack of copy-protection mechanisms on the HD output to the TV, and into the personal video recording (PVR) functionality of these devices, the affected parties will have to rely on law enforcement agencies to stop the pirate low-quality STBs from flooding the South African market.

Bronwyn Keene-Young, e.tvs Group COO, says while South African manufacturers will comply with the SABS standards, they will not be able to compete with cheap low-quality foreign STBs.

Having the broadcast signal protected at the commercial launch of DTT will go a long way to make sure that these boxes become redundant and therefore pose no threat to the local manufacturing industry, concludes Keene-Young.

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