https://zimbabwe.misa.org State of Broadcasting and Digital Migration in the Region Introduction The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) set June 2020 as the deadline for developing countries to have fully migrated to digital terrestrial transmission. This date has come and gone and countries in Southern Africa are still at various stages of the digital broadcasting migration process. The initial deadline had been June 2015 and almost all t he SADC countries failed to switch off all analogue television transmission except for Mauritius and Tanzania. This is a direct contrast to the performance of most countries in Europe and the developed countries which managed to fully migrate to digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) and achieve analogue switch off (ASO) before the June 2015 deadline. Most countries in the region and beyond adopted a phased approach to the digital broadcasting migration (DBM) process and modernisation of the infrastructure was synchronised with consumer awareness and acquisition of receive gadgets, the set top boxes (STBs). Digital broadcasting migration hinges on three pillars and these are: • Infrastructure • Content • Consumer awareness and set top boxes It should be noted however that some SADC countries have made good digital broadcasting migration progress and are in the final phases of the process. Others are struggling due to various factors, chief among them being financial constraints and lack of urgency to comply with the ITU timelines. It is also unfortunate that the Covid -19 pandemic that hit the world from the beginning of the year 2020 also negatively impacted the progress of digital broadcasting migration programs as resources had to be channelled towards fighting the pandemic. 1