As the fight for the commercial TV licence heats ‘up, bidders are closing their doors to the press. ‘Gillian Farquhar and Jacquie Golding-Duffy report
Bids have already begun for the commercial television licence to be awarded by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), but most contenders are shrouding their plans in secrecy as the race heats up.
Written submissions must be in by the end of March 1997. These will be followed by public hearings.
The IBA is promising to issue a television licence before the end of next year, hopefully September.
The regulator has investigated three scenarios in their proposed policy framework for the private television licence: a national service, a network of three regional stations and a national service with provincial windows. As with radio licences, the ownership must include people from historically disadvantaged groups.
The parameters set out by the IBA in its proposed policy framework are that the television service must be available to the majority of South Africans, it must provide news and information, must reflect provincial diversity, provide programming for children, reflect South African identity, culture and character and contribute to the development of South African languages.
Armed with all these necessary requirements, Community Television Network (CTN) is the latest bidder to enter the television fray. It will be competing against Station for the Nation which is Moribo Investment’s television subsidiary and former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) head Quentin Green’s planned station, Free-To-Air.
According to consortium representative, Vanessa du Plessis, CTN has formed a ‘very large and powerfully based consortium that includes a black empowerment component and international partners’.
Du Plessis argues that CTN’s bid is ‘unique in structure’ and will benefit the South African economy as well as contribute to improving the quality of TV production.
However, it seems that it will take more than simply a ‘unique’ structure to convince the IBA to award CTN the licence, especially since its competitors also boast the necessary ingredients insisted upon by the IBA: a black partner, female representation and catering in most aspects for the previously disadvantaged by way of training.
‘We have found solutions to the various problems the SABC has with reaching the majority of people in most of the official languages,’ said Du Plessis, adding that CTN believed it was well-placed to get the licence as ‘we’re already involved in TV broadcasting through our existing operation CTN Direct TV’.
The broadcasting experience Du Plessis refers to is Direct TV’s pre-recorded tapes which they show to niche market audiences. CTN’s Direct television channels include a stokvel channel aimed at emerging black markets; an inter-city channel targeting passengers; a store channel; a workers’ channel; and the Africa Wild channel being launched internationally to reach the tourist market
However, Du Plessis described her team’s broadcast experience as ‘extensive’, adding that its international partner would play a role in staff training which would take place locally and abroad and would begin once the IBA’s position paper and regulations for the TV licence were finalised.
‘We will be seeking to truly empower black people in large numbers and will not use black empowerment as window-dressing.’
Du Plessis says she hopes the IBA would go for the most financially stable bid. ‘The licence holder should be able to run a healthy financial station and still leave room for the SABC ‘ we’ve been particularly careful to protect the SABC’s revenue stream with our intended concept and hope the IBA will look at that together with our strong empowerment and expertise component.’
Unlike CTN, Moribo’s Station for the Nation was not eager to divulge any of its plans.
Station for the Nation’s newly appointed development manager Gladwin Marume refused to comment on the broadcast experience of his team, saying negotiations with concerned parties were still ongoing.
However, like Du Plessis, Marume played the ‘black empowerment’ card saying: ‘Black empowerment and human resource development are key elements to a successful bid.”
Thebe Investment’s subsidiary, Moribo Investments, and film and entertainment company, Interleisure, own 60% and 20% respectively of Station for the Nation.
Moribo Investments is, however, looking for equity partners to buy 40% of its stake and is understood to be approaching trade unions, black-owned companies and women’s organisations.
The Australian station Nine Network is the company’s 20% equity partner. ‘Station for the Nation will begin recruiting and training staff in a few month’s time and equity partner Nine Network will be heavily involved in this,’ Marumo says.
According to an IBA insider, former Pan Africanist Congress politician !Khoisan X may become a partner in Station for the Nation.
The third competitor, Free-to-Air, also remained tight-lipped regarding its bid, refusing to respond to repeated requests by the Mail & Guardian.
It is believed that consortium representative Greene has approached several black-owned companies including Real Africa Investment Limited, World-Wide Investments and Kagiso Trust Investments in search of further investment.
It is also understood that he has approached black women-led empowerment grouping Nozala (which is involved in the bid for an MW licence in Gauteng for Afrikaans talk radio ‘ Punt op Mediumgolf), as well as the Mineworkers’ Investment Company (owner of Radio Highveld together with Primedia) to invest in Free-To-Air.
According to IBA officials, a fourth party has shown ‘strong interest in the industry and may soon be joining the fray in making a bid for what is likely to be a strongly contested TV licence’.