Mr. Bealor, Vice President, RF Systems - (Broadcast Electronics), a principal partner of Comfax Nigeria Ltd, stated this yesterday in an exclusive interview with Vanguard reporters at the 7th Biennial Conference of Africa Broadcasters, (Africast) holding in Abuja.

Mr. Bealor said there was a huge investment involved in converting from analogue operating system to the new digital signals, so the government should not be rigid in its application of the deadline date so as to make it easier for broadcasters to comply.

“I can tell you that in the US, we had two date shifts, and now we would be fully converted by February 2009. It’s a difficult choice, but then, a lot is involved in the digital conversion and we need to be patient with everyone to get along,” Bealor said.

“There is a significant cost in converting to digital technology, however, there is the ability to ease into the conversion.

There are certain analogue products that can be purchased today that can later be converted to digital without being replaced and we as equipment manufacturers have tried to take into account that and it is something they (government) need to be made available.

So as broadcast equipment manufacturer we try to provide advance products so that when you want to convert it does not become a cost burden to the broadcaster.”

Drawing comparism with what obtains in the United States, Mr. Bealor said millions of Nigerians might not be able to afford to change all their analogue receivers to digital equipment at simultaneously.

“The United States”, Bealor stated, “subsidised the purchase of converter Boxes for its citizens who were not able to afford them, this process allows the public to continue to use their analogue receivers, while being able to receive digital signals”.

The subsidy provided by the US government significantly reduced the “cost burden to the consumer because not everybody could afford to replace all their analogue receivers in their homes.”

The converter boxes or Set Top Box is specialised equipment that enables an analogue TV to receive and download digital signals to the consumer whose domestic equipment is not yet updated.

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