Abstract
Discussion on the much-heralded migration from the analogue broadcast transmission to digital terrestrial television (DTT) often praises digital migration as a catalyst that will enhance the quality of audio and visual signals and increase the number of channels as well as effective utilisation of available spectrum amongst others. Focusing on the digital divide that characterises much of Africa, this chapter examines the impact of digital migration not only concerning its anticipated benefits but also to its implication for access and inequalities in poorer countries of Africa. The chapter concludes that digital broadcasting will not necessarily bridge the digital divide and that it will instead exacerbate the inequalities in most African countries. The poor have no money for the subscription that enables them to access the multitude of channels that are available to those who have money.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Kezias Mwale, email conversation with authors, June 25, 2020.
- 2.
BusinessTech (2020) Government says 30% of content on Netflix and other streaming services must be South African, retrieved at https://businesstech.co.za/news/technology/451898/government-says-30-of-content-on-netflix-and-other-streaming-services-must-be-south-african/, accessed 28 November.
References
Adams, Chris. What Is Document Analysis? Retrieved on 2 June 2020 from https://www.modernanalyst.com/Careers/InterviewQuestions/tabid/128/ID/1610/What-is-Document-Analysis.aspx.
Ajayi, Joshua. (2020). New_Management_Approaches_In_The_Digital_Broadcast_Era. Retrieved on 4 May 2020 from https://www.academia.edu/23200835/new_management_approaches_in_the_digital_broadcast_era.
Balancing Act. (2018). Analogue to Digital Migration. Retrieved at https://www.balancingact-africa.com/reports/order_free_report/analogue-to-digital-broadcasting-migration-in-africa-nov-2018.
Balarabe, Samaila. (2013). Digitisation of Television Broadcasting in Nigeria Review. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 10.
Berger, Guy. (2010). Challenges and Perspectives of Digital Migration for African Media. Dakar, Senegal: Panos Institute of West Africa.
Berger, Guy. (2012). Theorising African Communications: The Bad News Signalled by Broadcast Digital Migration Policy. Information & Communication Technology—Africa, 5.
Bowen, Glen A. (2009). Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method. Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027.
Bradshaw, Nick. (2019). AI Media Group Launches Online TV to Champion Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution. 16 July 2019 06:30:34. Africa Tech. https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/146778/ai-media-group-launches-ai-tv-to-chart-the-continents-4ir-journey.
Caumont, Andrea. (2013). Who’s Not Online? 5 Factors Tied to the Digital Divide. Pew Research Centre, November 8. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/11/08/whos-not-online-5-factors-tied-to-the-digital-divide/. Accessed 1 October 2020.
De Wet, Miri-Joan. (2017). Income: Bringing Families Back Together. Education Beyond Restriction. https://jmsgroup8.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/intsomi-bringing-families-back-together-miri-joan-de-wet/ Accessed 21 April 2020.
Diego, Don. (2016). Digital Divide. Factors Affecting Digital Divide. http://donmarnel.blogspot.com/2016/10/factors-affecting-digital-divide.html.
Digital Economy Report. (2019). Value Creation and Capture: Implications for Developing Countries. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/der2019_en.pdf.
Fati, Suliman, and Sumari Putra. (2018). Delivering TV Services over IP Networks. In: Fati Suliman Mohammed, Azad Saiful, and Khan Pathan Al-Sakib, editors. IPTV Delivery Networks: Next Generation Architectures for Live and Video-on-Demand Services. Wiley.
Foucault, M. (1984). On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress. In P. Rabinow, editor. The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought. London: Penguin Books, pp. 340–372.
Information Economy Report. (2017). Digitalization, Trade and Development. https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ier2017_overview_en.pdf.
Mawere, Munyaradzi. (2017). Development and Underdevelopment in Africa: Through the Lens of Theory. In Theorising Development in Africa: Towards Building an African Framework of Development, pp. 23–58.
Muthomi, Joshua. (2012). Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Migration in Kenya. https://www.kenyaplex.com/resources/6703-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-digital-migration-in-kenya.aspx.
Naisbitt, John. (1982). Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives. Warner Books/Warner Communications Company.
Nkuna, Jabulani. (2012). Universal Access at Crossroads: A Political Economy of the Digital Migration Policies in South Africa. MA Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.
Nwulu Nnamdi I, Adekanbi Adeyemi, Oranugo Tochukwu, and Adewale Yemi. (2010). Television Broadcasting in Africa: Pioneering Milestones. 2010 Second Region 8 IEEE Conference on the History of Communications, Madrid, pp. 1–6.
Onuoha, Ogechi. (2020). South Africa to Complete Its Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) By 2021, Newspace Africa. By Ogechi Onuoha—6 February 2020.
Orlu-Orlu, H.C. (2017). An Exploration of the Benefits of Migration to Digital Broadcasting. Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 1–5, July.
Ortt, Roland, and Jan P.L. Schoormans. (2004). The Pattern of Development and Diffusion of Breakthrough Communication Technologies. European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 292–302 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 1460-1060 https://doi.org/10.1108/14601060410565047.
Pick, James, and Sarkar Avijit. (2016). Theories of the Digital Divide: Critical Comparison. In 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Koloa, HI, USA, pp. 3888–3897. https://doi.org/10.1109/hicss.2016.484.
Pratt, Cornelius. (1994). Journalism Ethics and the New Communication Technology in Africa. In Journalism Ethics in Africa, Francis Ksaoma, editor. Nairobi: ACCE, pp. 51–69.
Pratt, Cornelius. (1996). New Technologies, Their Implications, and Special Issues. In Afro Mass Media, James Phillip Jeter Kuldip Rampal Cambridge Vibert and Prat Cornelius, editors. London: Greenwood Press, pp. 45–64.
Rogers, Everett M. (1962). Diffusion of Innovations, 1st ed. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
SADC. (2013). An Assessment of SADC Communications Policies, Laws & Regulations in SADC Member States. Retrieved at https://www.wits.ac.za/media/migration/files/cs-38933-fix/migrated-pdf/pdfs-5/SADCCommsEnvironmtAssessmtfull.pdf, 28 November 2020.
Smith, Thandi. (2014). Universal Access or Corporate Gain? Researching the Infrastructural Roll-Out of the South African Digital Migration. MA Thesis, University of the Witwatersand.
Solovjova, Ivona. (2019). ‘Digital Divide’ Will Worsen Inequalities, Without Better Global Cooperation. The Digital Republic. https://www.digitalrepublicrecruitment.com/2019/09/10/digital-divide-will-worsen-inequalities-without-better-global-cooperation/, 10 September 2019.
Toffler, Alvin. (1970). Future Shock. New York: Random House.
Toffler, Alvin. (1980). Third Wave. New York: William Morrow.
UNCTAD. (2019). The Digital Economy Report 2019. Geneva: UN https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/der2019_en.pdf?user=46. Accessed 11 March 2020.
van Dijk, Jan A.G.M. (2012). A Theory of the Digital Divide. In The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective, M. Ragnedda, and G.W. Muschert, editors, p. 29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Motsaathebe, G., Chiumbu, S.H. (2021). Exodus, Access and Inequalities: The Impact of Digital Migration in the Least Developed Countries of Africa. In: Motsaathebe, G., Chiumbu, S.H. (eds) Television in Africa in the Digital Age. Gender and Cultural Studies in Africa and the Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68854-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68854-7_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68853-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68854-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)