More hot air or is Zim finally making the switch to Digital TV?

Zimbabwe’s TV infrastructure going digital has been spoken of so much over the years that it has passed into the realm of folklore. We have heard so many times that Zimbabwe is finally going to make the transition from analogue to digital but little has come of it.

Last month my colleague reported on South Africa’s phased shut down of analogue TV as it made the shift to digital. In that article, he also laid down the many plans that we have seen over the decades and how they haven’t born fruit.

Maybe it is in response to that piece or developments south of border that Minister for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa is chairing the Digital Terrestrial Television launch event today.

The event is supposedly going to include the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Transmedia Zimbabwe officials according to The Herald.

This launch is repotedly going to see Zimbabwe start the shift from analogue broadcasting to digital. Which to me sounds like the same old song we have heard before.

But, I am willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt for one reason. The BAZ issued six new licences to free-to-air televisions stations late last year and they are supposed to come online by November according to reports. It would make sense that the new channels start from the jump on the digital platform.

It is for this reason alone that I think there could be something to this. However, what will be the clincher of course is when we see whatever is being launched today in action.

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