Government stops sh193b digital TV migration deal

The Government has stopped the acquisition of a $74m (about sh192b) loan from the Export & Import (EXIM) Bank of China over alleged procurement flaws and over-pricing. The loan was intended to fund the migration from analogue television to digital.

Keith Muhakanizi, the deputy secretary to the treasury, pointed out this week that a memorandum of understanding had been signed, but the loan process had been halted.
“We don’t have any other instructions other than stopping it,” said Muhakanizi. He said the decision to restart the process would come from the Prime Minister’s Office where the project falls.

It was not clear whether the stopping of the loan was linked to concerns about the procurement process and the alleged cost inflation for the supply and installation of TV studio equipment.

But Nandala Mafabi, the Leader of Opposition, faulted the procurement process and the cost of the project. He also questioned the cost for the different aspects of the project.
“The list of equipment in tender is totally different from that on the contract.

“Also, according to the expert in this industry, the real value in this contract is between $20m and $28m, maximum $30m, even if the best US and EU equipment is to be used,” said Mafabi.

He also cited a technical process of establishing the main system to handle TV programmes for Kampala service area and to upcountry regions, which UBC TV quoted at $5.8m.

“But in the market, to realise such function will need a maximum of 10 transmitters, which will cost $1.2m,” said Mafabi.

He also questioned the cost of acquiring an outside broadcasting equipment, which UBC TV quoted at $1m.

However, industry experts put the cost at $300,000 for a full set of in-built digital TV equipment.
Mafabi noted: “By private negotiation, Huawei signed an agreement worth $74m with UBC, meaning the tender was awarded without advertising.”

UBC last year invited bids for the installation of 28 digital television stations across the country. The migration to digital broadcasting is a mandatory requirement for countries to upgrade from analogue to digital by June 2015. Uganda’s target is December 2012.

Simon Mayende, the director of information and national guidance, explained that under the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority rules, one is not obliged to commit to procuring firms to do the works until they get the money.

“We have it as unfunded priority. It was one of the proposals (loan) put forward for raising funds for this project,” said Mayende.

Jane Kasumba, the UBC publicist, said two broadcasting channels for the Kampala area were being tested at Kololo Hill as part of the migration process even if there is no legislation to guide the entire process now and when the digital becomes operational.

Kasumba said: “Established procurement procedures are being followed to select a competent company to implement the digital migration project.”

“The Huawei deal is dependent on the source of funding. If the Chinese grant materialises, it has a conditionality to engage Huawei as the implementer,” she pointed out.
“But UBC will engage an independent consultant to check the supplies and oversee the installations by Huawei.” There are reports that countries that have established similar stations have spent less than sh1b to adopt digital technology stations from the US, which are superior.

Huawei is the firm that carried out the National Fibre Optic backbone project, which ran into scandals.

Source http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/760671

Watching TV before bed linked to disrupted sleep

If you want to boost your preschooler's chances of a good night's sleep and downplay risks of behavioural problems, injury and obesity, it's best to avoid screen time - whether TVs, computers or video games - in the hour before bedtime.

That's the advice of a prominent scientist at the Seattle Children's Research Institute who led a major new study believed to be the first to examine screen time and kids with a view to violent and non-violent content, afternoon versus evening viewing, and solitary viewing or with parents.

Many parents would agree that preschoolers who watch programming containing violence would be more likely to experience sleep disturbances from nightmares to frequent waking and daytime fatigue. But the study of more than 600 Seattle children aged three to five found that even child-oriented programming seen after 7 p.m. was linked to increased sleep problems.

"I think most parents are aware that some media programming is or isn't appropriate for young children, but it can be a shock to realize that even highquality children's programming like Sesame Street just isn't a good idea near bedtime," epidemiologist Michelle Garrison said in an email to the Times Colonist. "Since we as adults often turn to TV for relaxation, it's easy to assume that it's also a calming experience for young children - but those 'zoned-out,' glazed-over faces that young children often get while watching TV are often a sign of a brain that's over-stimulated and overwhelmed, not relaxed."

As for TV violence, it didn't matter whether the children saw isolated violence or no violence, fantasy violence, sports violence, mild or slapstick violence or realistic violence - before bedtime it was associated with sleep disturbance. That's because children aged three to five do not distinguish between animated and live-action violence, sports, slapstick or fantasy violence, says the study, published in the journal Pediatrics.

"A show that's really funny for an eight-year-old can be frightening and overwhelming for a fouryear-old," says Garrison, who works at the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at the institute.

Sleep deprivation has a huge impact on children's health, Garrison attests.

"In the short term, inadequate sleep in young children has been associated with increased behaviour problems and injury risks. In the longer term, poor sleep during early childhood is linked to later increased depression and anxiety, overweight and obesity, and poor grades and test scores in school."

Garrison says even watching age-appropriate shows with parents can be too stimulating for young children at the time their brains should be unwinding.

"It's like their minds are speeding up so they can keep up with the fast pace of the show without missing anything. As adults, most of us have learned how to help our minds slow down and relax, but young children haven't learned that skill yet. As a result, they really need their parents to take control and provide a calm, quiet environment before bedtime."

Although many parents put a TV in their tots' bedrooms to facilitate sleep, it's linked to the opposite. Previous studies have linked bedroom TVs to consumption of more media and increased sleep problems, she says.

That could be due to frightening content, displacement of "more soothing bedtime rituals" and brightly lit screens that disrupt the production of melatonin, a hormone linked to sleep rhythms, the study says.

Ten per cent of the 612 children whose parents kept screentime records had bedroom TVs, 55 per cent of them boys and 18 per cent were from low-income homes.

Nearly one in five of the families reported a sleep disturbance from five to seven nights a week from delayed onset of sleep, waking more than once a night, waking from nightmares, daytime fatigue and prolonged lack of alertness in the morning.

Parents who filled out the sleep data reported an average daily screen time of 73 minutes, nearly 59 before 7 p.m. and 14 after 7 p.m. But the authors suggest that parents under-reported total viewing time and violent content, and over-reported watching with adults. kdedyna@timescolonist.com

Source http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Watching+before+linked+disrupted+sleep/5040212/story.html