Technology is ever changing, always advancing and always evolving. What’s brand new today will be dubbed ancient a year from now, or so it goes..

With the death of analogue TV, the transition to move terrestrial TV broadcasting signals from analogue to digital has been in the works for a while now, and with good reason too.

A switch to digital signals will not only bring about better quality audio and video quality, it also presents us with more options thanks to an OTT (over the top) system, allowing us to watch our favourite programmes anytime we want instead of having to wait for assigned broadcast times. On top of that, switching to digital signals will also free up valuable portions of the broadcast spectrum, clearing up space to expand LTE coverage areas, for example.

Unfortunately, it looks like the transition has been delayed again.

This was confirmed yesterday when Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that an announcement will be made in the second quarter of this year on the transition. Speaking at the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Digital Broadcasting Symposium 2019, he said “The Malaysian government is in the process of migrating from analogue to digital (broadcasting). I hope we can make an announcement in April or by the end of the year that we will switch to the digital era.” His original target, as announced in August 2018, was for Q1 2019.

This isn’t the first time there’s been a delay either. According to reports quoting former Communications and Multimedia minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak, the rakyat were originally supposed to enjoy the benefits of digital broadcasting by 30th June 2018. In March the same year however, he said it would be delayed to an unspecified date to give both broadcasters and consumers more time to prepare for a digital broadcasting environment.

I suppose we still need more time to prep for a digital broadcasting environment.