THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL BROADCASTING MIGRATION ON TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP

The study on the effect of digital broadcasting migration on television viewership was carried out in Rubaga Division. The study scope was the period from the analog switch-off on 17th June 2015 to December 2018. The aim was to understand how television viewers migrated, settled, and experienced digital broadcasting benefits. The study assessed: the levels of knowledge about digital broadcasting migration; the digital broadcasting migration process; factors that affected the digital broadcasting migration process; and factors hindering digital terrestrial television viewership. The study was descriptive mainly inclined to the qualitative method. A total of 347 household head respondents and 15 key informants drawn from policy implementers, signal distributors and content providers, parliamentarians, judiciary, and academia were interviewed. The questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data. The study found that under objective one: only 1.7 percent of the respondents had knowledge about digital broadcasting migration. Objective two found out that 93percentage of the respondents had migrated to digital broadcasting.