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An Analysis of the Challenges and Benefits of Digital Migration in Zambia

Received: 3 July 2020     Accepted: 27 July 2020     Published: 11 December 2020
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Abstract

Digitization is the current trend in Television broadcasting, both in Zambia and the world over. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), set 2015 as the year for the entire broadcasting stations in the world to go digital in order to have better signal quality and increase in the capacity of broadcast transmission networks by improving spectrum efficiency. Despite these and many other advantages that come with digital migration, Zambia is yet to realize the full benefits of digital migration implementation. It’s against this background that the study was conducted to assess the challenges of digital migration process and its benefits in Zambia. The emphasis was on assessing the television digital migration implementation process; examine the challenges of switching from analogue to digital technology and its benefits. To this effect, a quantitative research design was used on a sample of 300 stakeholders who had direct influence on the process to determine their views. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to categorise the challenges of the migration process and its benefits. The results established that lack of awareness by the public was a major challenge was encountered. In addition, inadequate infrastructure for digital migration coupled with inadequate funding towards the hindered the process of migration. However, the study also established that the country has benefited from migrating from analog to digital broadcasting. Notable ones include; quality of transmission, improved content delivery, and ability of the viewers to view more than one TV channel at once thereby giving them a better viewing pleasure among other benefits. In view of the challenges and benefits of the digital migration to the country, the study recommends that deliberate policies should be put in place to ensure that the infrastructure needed for the digital migration are readily available and that Government should create public awareness with regards to the importance of the digital migration process to allow for more public participation.

Published in American Journal of Networks and Communications (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11
Page(s) 17-21
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

ICT, Digital Migration, Broadcasting Migration, Digital, Benefits and Challenges

References
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[2] Agona M & Otim R [2011]), Guidelines for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, ITU, Lagos.
[3] Sam Agona and Sansa Otim Julliane, (2012). Mapping Digital Media: Kenya. A Report by the Open Societies Foundation. Open Society Foundations, United Kingdom.
[4] Ihechu M, (2012)- Media Law in South Africa. Kluver Law International: New York.
[5] B. Sanou, and F. Rancy (2012), Digital Dividend: Insight for spectrum decisions, ITU, Geneva, Switzerland.
[6] Jared Baraza, (2009). The Digital Dividend of Terrestrial Broadcasting, Springer, Dordrecht Heidelberg, Germany.
[7] Telecommunications Management Group inc, 2017– Publication Television Archiving, ABU Malaysia.
[8] Wisit Atipayakoon (2017) (ABU) – Publication File Formats for sound programme exchange, Archives at Risk Alliance: www.archivesatrisk.org.
[9] Chang Jin (2017) Systems Architecture, Services and Functionality” Geneva December 2017, page 111.
[10] SA Time Publication (2014), SADC Roadmap for Digital Broadcasting Migration, Johannesburg, South Afric.
[11] Azhar D (2002), Digital broadcasting state of play – SADC Opportunities, Challenges and Possibilities, Pretoria, South Africa, 2014.
[12] Fox Tewksbury. (2009) Qualitative Versus quantitative Methods: Understanding why Qualitative methods are Superior for Criminology and Criminal Justice. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology, Vol 1. P.
[13] Butcher me, “Digital Video Archives – facing the facts” EBU Technical Review – Geneva Summer 2017 11 pages. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative; http://dublincore.org/.
[14] EBU Project Group P/FTA (Future Television Archives), “Supplement to the EBU Report Future content Management Systems Architecture, Services and Functionality” Geneva December 2016.
[15] European Broadcasting Union (EBU), “Technical Report 003, Radio Archives: Conception and Practice, Geneva July 2017.
[16] European Broadcasting Union (EBU) “Recommendation R105-2008 Digitisation of programmed material in Audio Archives: Geneva March 2015.
[17] Ardizzone L and Ferrari R (2010). The Challenges of digitisation of broadcasting in Nigeria: Department of Mass Communication, Abia State University. [Online]. Available: http://.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/NMMC/article/viewFile/3114/3155. Accessed on 20/08/2018.
[18] Bunshak, T. (2006). Digital broadcasting is now. NBC News. 8 (2).
[19] Burrows R. (2014). Media Law in South Africa. Kluver Law International: New York.
[20] Digital Migration Policy For Television Broadcasting in Uganda. 2011. [Report] Uganda by Ajzen (2014).
[21] Hanson Edmunson. (2005). ICT Lawyers. [Online]. Available: http://www.kerronedmunson.co.za/resources/dtt-article-ke-oct-2011.pdf.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Kashale Chimanga, Phillimon Mumba. (2020). An Analysis of the Challenges and Benefits of Digital Migration in Zambia. American Journal of Networks and Communications, 9(2), 17-21. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11

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    ACS Style

    Kashale Chimanga; Phillimon Mumba. An Analysis of the Challenges and Benefits of Digital Migration in Zambia. Am. J. Netw. Commun. 2020, 9(2), 17-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11

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    AMA Style

    Kashale Chimanga, Phillimon Mumba. An Analysis of the Challenges and Benefits of Digital Migration in Zambia. Am J Netw Commun. 2020;9(2):17-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11,
      author = {Kashale Chimanga and Phillimon Mumba},
      title = {An Analysis of the Challenges and Benefits of Digital Migration in Zambia},
      journal = {American Journal of Networks and Communications},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {17-21},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnc.20200902.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajnc.20200902.11},
      abstract = {Digitization is the current trend in Television broadcasting, both in Zambia and the world over. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), set 2015 as the year for the entire broadcasting stations in the world to go digital in order to have better signal quality and increase in the capacity of broadcast transmission networks by improving spectrum efficiency. Despite these and many other advantages that come with digital migration, Zambia is yet to realize the full benefits of digital migration implementation. It’s against this background that the study was conducted to assess the challenges of digital migration process and its benefits in Zambia. The emphasis was on assessing the television digital migration implementation process; examine the challenges of switching from analogue to digital technology and its benefits. To this effect, a quantitative research design was used on a sample of 300 stakeholders who had direct influence on the process to determine their views. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to categorise the challenges of the migration process and its benefits. The results established that lack of awareness by the public was a major challenge was encountered. In addition, inadequate infrastructure for digital migration coupled with inadequate funding towards the hindered the process of migration. However, the study also established that the country has benefited from migrating from analog to digital broadcasting. Notable ones include; quality of transmission, improved content delivery, and ability of the viewers to view more than one TV channel at once thereby giving them a better viewing pleasure among other benefits. In view of the challenges and benefits of the digital migration to the country, the study recommends that deliberate policies should be put in place to ensure that the infrastructure needed for the digital migration are readily available and that Government should create public awareness with regards to the importance of the digital migration process to allow for more public participation.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AU  - Kashale Chimanga
    AU  - Phillimon Mumba
    Y1  - 2020/12/11
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    AB  - Digitization is the current trend in Television broadcasting, both in Zambia and the world over. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), set 2015 as the year for the entire broadcasting stations in the world to go digital in order to have better signal quality and increase in the capacity of broadcast transmission networks by improving spectrum efficiency. Despite these and many other advantages that come with digital migration, Zambia is yet to realize the full benefits of digital migration implementation. It’s against this background that the study was conducted to assess the challenges of digital migration process and its benefits in Zambia. The emphasis was on assessing the television digital migration implementation process; examine the challenges of switching from analogue to digital technology and its benefits. To this effect, a quantitative research design was used on a sample of 300 stakeholders who had direct influence on the process to determine their views. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to categorise the challenges of the migration process and its benefits. The results established that lack of awareness by the public was a major challenge was encountered. In addition, inadequate infrastructure for digital migration coupled with inadequate funding towards the hindered the process of migration. However, the study also established that the country has benefited from migrating from analog to digital broadcasting. Notable ones include; quality of transmission, improved content delivery, and ability of the viewers to view more than one TV channel at once thereby giving them a better viewing pleasure among other benefits. In view of the challenges and benefits of the digital migration to the country, the study recommends that deliberate policies should be put in place to ensure that the infrastructure needed for the digital migration are readily available and that Government should create public awareness with regards to the importance of the digital migration process to allow for more public participation.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 2
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Author Information
  • Department of Information and Communication Technology, Copperbelt University, Kapasa Makas Campus, Chinsali, Zambia

  • School of ICT, Copperbelt University, Riverside Main Campus, Kitwe, Zambia

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