Why a streaming TV service should be Google's next African play

3 Apr 2013

Inspired by the recent successful launch of the Television White Spaces pilot in South Africa, I am once again tempted to engage in providing mostly unsolicited advice about what Google's strategy in Africa ought to be. What I want to propose today is the launching of a Netflix-like streaming television service aimed at African markets and serving African and international content.

In this I take a more radical point of view than I did in my recent post about the Digital Dividend. This idea is borne of two recent experiences, one, some work I did recently looking at the migration process from analogue to digital broadcasting in Africa; and, two, my personal experience with Netflix.

Digital migration

Most of the industrialised world has made a transition from analogue to digital broadcasting of terrestrial television. The process in most African countries is much slower. Because digital broadcasting requires a fraction of the spectrum needed for analogue broadcasting, a transition to digital television broadcasting:

Creates space for more television channels;

Allows the possibility of broadcasting in High Definition (HD);

Makes some spectrum available for other purposes such as broadband; and,

Allows broadcasters to keep pace with changes in broadcast technology.

Of the above benefits, I question whether the first and second are relevant in Africa. There has always been plenty of space for television channels. The majority of African countries have four or fewer terrestrial broadcast channels. As for High Definition broadcasting, it is hard to make either the social or economic case for HD broadcasting.

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