Between Analog and Digital Broadcasting

BETWEEN ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL BROADCASTING

       The campaign regarding global migration from analogue to digital broadcasting commenced on June 17, 2006. Nigeria signed regional and international agreement to conclude the digital migration by June 17, 2012. In a bid to meet up the deadline, in 2008, the Federal Government (FG) set up a Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC). The following year, the committee submitted its report but the FG failed to implement it, causing Nigeria to miss the June 2012 deadline. The migration deadline was shifted to June 17, 2015. Though the ‘Digi-team’ inaugurated by the FG alongside the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) made a frantic effort to fulfill the mandate, the efforts again didn’t yield any result owing to paucity of funds.

        Now, Nigeria is targeting June 17, 2017 as the new deadline for the long-awaited transition. Having missed the switchover deadline twice, Nigerians are sceptical about the country’s chances of meeting the new date. It has become obvious that for Nigeria to actualize the feat, there’s need to comprehend the inevitable attributes of digital broadcasting, and the dangers inherent in the ongoing analogue pattern.

        Analogue mode of transmission is an unreliable system, though it has worked well enough for over half a century. Analogue TV transmits programming in a continuous signal. The signal varies in amplitude, depending on the information contained in the audio or picture. It is transmitted on a particular radio frequency from the TV station’s transmitting antenna over the air, to the viewer’s TV set. Each TV station is assigned a particular frequency that corresponds to its channel number. So, when a viewer tunes his/her TV to a given channel, s/he has actually chosen to receive transmissions on that certain frequency.

        It’s noteworthy that TV frequencies are calibrated in megahertz (MHz). There are two major transmission frequency bands, namely: Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF). VHF channels 2 to 6 operate in the frequency range between 54 and 88MHz. VHF channels 7 to 13 operate in the frequency range between 174 and 216MHz. And UHF channels 14 to 83 operate in the frequency range between 470 and 890MHz.

       The aforementioned analog signal is far from perfect. It does not usually reproduce the exact original programming. It can easily deteriorate over long distances. It can equally suffer interference from other sources, thereby producing ghost images, static, and ‘snow’. Hence, analog transmissions typically produce a lower-quality visual output than the original. The picture is not quite as sharp – the background is sometimes grainy, and the sound suffers from noise and reduced frequency response.

        A situation where the viewer tries to receive signal from a distant station, is even more unbearable. The farther the station, the worse the picture, likewise the sound. The results are also poor if the viewer is located in a big city with lots of buildings that bounce the signal around. Among all, analogue transmission is inefficient; each VHF or UHF channel takes up a lot of valuable bandwidths.

       Unlike analogue transmission that is prone to fading, digital technology reproduces a reliable crystal-clear picture without any form of interference. Digital tech equally enables TV stations to broadcast multiple channels with different programming. It can fit four or more channels into a single analogue channel; hence, it can accommodate as many wavebands as possible within the existing spectrum. It makes the work easier, improves the professionalism, viewers’ delight, and creates more job opportunities, as well as uplifts income for both the broadcasters and the government. Above all, it would enable more prospective broadcasting firms in Nigeria to be licensed by the NBC.

         To this end, Nigeria needs to hasten up towards meeting the June 2017 deadline. It’s no longer about setting up a team; rather, it is about bracing up to the reality, which is to apply a pragmatic approach instead of the continued indulgence in theory. Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB), to be utilized by Nigeria, adopts time-domain synchronous Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technology, with a pseudo-random signal frame to serve as the Guard Interval (GI) of the OFDM block and the training symbol. Its content is viable and reliable, thus worthy of emulation.

       The Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has a very vital role to play. First, they must acknowledge what they stand to gain. Broadcasting involves generation, transmission and distribution, and it is the duty of the various broadcasting stations to provide the required equipment for the first two phases such as digital transmitter and computers. The government is to provide the instruments for the distribution phase such as ITS and pinnacle. So, BON must conscientize their members to do the needful.

        Towards sustaining the feat, if actualized, the FG needs to create stiff regulations. The NBC would be expected to be more proactive, and endeavour to create the needed awareness. The broadcasting firms need to deploy standard maintenance and anti-hacking softwares, as well as engage reliable tech experts in their daily activities, either as consultants or employees. The overall project is capital-intensive, so there is need for adequate collaboration both on the part of the government and the broadcasting stations. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

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