ESWATINI TV’S E13M REVAMPED STUDIO

MBABANE – In a quest to ensure quality viewing, the Eswatini Television Authority (ETVA) has revamped its studios.

This will come as the first phase upgrade for the governmnent owned TV station. This upgrade is said to cost a whopping E13 million. This money was provided by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT). It is worth noting that the upgraded studio will be officially revealed this coming Friday as the station will be officially announcing to its viewers and the members of the public regarding the new developments. The last time the station’s studio was upgraded was in 2007.

Eswatini TV’s Communications Officer Nompumelelo Dlamini confirmed this with this reporter as she said there had been an overwhelming need to upgrade the studio over the years. She mentioned that this was necessitated by transmission blackouts which were caused by failing equipment.

Standards

She went on to say, “This upgrade matches industry standard and it will ease means of doing business. One important aspect is that our system is now on high definition standard as it is evident on our social media platforms, our picture quality has improved massively,” she narrated. Dlamini also said as a station, they were eagerly waiting on Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) to upgrade the station. Terrestrial television is a type of television broadcasting in which the television signal is transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a television station to a TV receiver having an antenna.

“The project cost around 13million but worth mentioning is that it is not complete as this is only phase one,”    she said.  The company which was contracted to do the upgrades was Pro T Electronics from South Africa. The money according to Dlamini, would be buying studio equipment including cameras, software, hardware and other related technological equipment. Dlamini further mentioned that more information would be revealed once the studio has been handed over by Pro T Electronics this Friday.

ETVA is a broadcaster established in 1983 through an Act of Parliament. Before it was established by the of Parliament, it was known as the Swaziland Television Broadcasting Corporation (STBC). STBC was officially opened by His Majesty King Sobhuza II in February 1978. This was the coming of television in the country.

Station

In 2019, The MultiChoice Group (MCG) handed over a state-of-the art studio to Bay TV, the Eastern Cape’s leading community TV station with a viewing of over one million. Following a E2 million upgrade, Bay TV’s studios in Nelson Mandela Bay now features world-class servers, cameras and digital panel backdrop screens. Bay TV is one of six South African Community TV Channels which MultiChoice has partnered with, providing equipment, training opportunities, as well as content. The other channels are Tshwane TV, Gau TV, 1KZN TV, Soweto TV and Cape Town TV.

Almost similar to Eswatini TV (except that you have to pay for the set top box ‘sgujana’), Bay TV is a free-to-air station that was established by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and is largely funded by local government and run by an independent Board of directors. Their upgraded facilities include:
* Digital mobile news gathering DMNG Pro 180 – RA (3G/4G with a downlink server, uplink;
* Eight professional studio cameras;
* Digital screen panel for alternate backdrops.

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