The five bidders for South Africa’s first private TV station have criticised many of the IBA’s proposed regulations for the new licence. Gillian Farquhar reports
RAINBOW TELEVISION and Vula Television are the latest entrants in the race for South Africa’s first “free-to-air” private television licence, to be awarded in November by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA).
This brings the number of bidders to five, with just three months to go before the licence application deadline on July 31.
Although there is growing anticipation by frustrated television viewers that they will be offered a wider choice by the end of the year, the new station will only begin broadcasting in 1999.
This week all five applicants strongly criticised the IBA’s proposed regulations for the new licence during public hearings on the authority’s private television discussion paper.
Calling for a “lighter touch”, the five contenders agreed that more flexibility was necessary if the new station is to be commercially viable.
The five contenders for the single national television licence are:
* Vanessa du Plessis, wife of Gauteng Newspapers managing director Deon du Plessis, and her Community Television Network.
* Former SABC head Quentin Greene’s Free- to-Air consortium, together with Kagiso Trust Investments and Dali Tambo’s African Dream television consortium.
* Station for the Nation, with founding shareholders Moribo Investments (a subsidiary of Thebe Investments), Interleisure and Nine Network Australia. Former Pan Africanist Congress politician !Khoisan X is also involved in the consortium.
* Rainbow Television, headed by Matthews Malefane, incorporates Rainbow Trust, “a broad-based grass roots membership initiative” and foreign partners who are “United States and Asian global media players”.
* RM Production house head Rapitse Montsho’s Vula Television, partnered by the Youth Investment Network, a national economic empowerment organisation for black youth; Letsogo’s Women’s Investment; and the National Empowerment Consortium.
Community Television Network, Station for the Nation and Vula Television have not disclosed their foreign partners.
The IBA policy framework has put forward three possible models for the private television licence:
* a national television service;
* a network of three regional stations; and
* a national service with provincial windows.
The requirements set out in the IBA’s proposed policy paper are that the new television services must be available to the majority of South Africans; provide news, information and local drama according to quotas; cater for provincial diversity; supply programming for children; reflect South African identity, culture and character; and contribute to the development of South African languages.
But Station for the Nation argued in its submission that the proposed local drama quota of 234 hours per year was “unsustainable” and “far in excess of the broadcast regulations of other countries with more developed television and film production industries”.
Free-to-Air estimated that the cost of fulfilling the local drama quota would be between R90-million and R110-million a year and agreed with Station for the Nation that the IBA’s proposed quotas placed the profitability and financial viability of the private television licensee in “serious doubt”.
Community Television Network, Vula Television, Rainbow Television and Free-to- Air suggested more flexibility in programme classification and screening times.
Vula Television called for “quality rather than quantity” to be the primary factor in quota considerations.
The IBA’s proposed restriction on advertising time – 10min/hr – during prime and shoulder time also came under fire. Most contenders were against regulations on content or placing limits on advertising time, with one applicant noting that the IBA should be careful that “it does not deregulate only to re-regulate”.
The private television channel will rely solely on adspend and sponsorship for its revenue.
Most contenders said advertising will automatically affect audience reaction to the channel – too much advertising may deter viewers who become irritated by the interruptions, while minimal advertising may sustain some viewers. Self-regulation will then become a matter for the station’s management and will not need outside intervention, they argued.
Station for the Nation said there was “insufficient” ad revenue to support more than four channels and that M-Net’s two- hour window time already accounted for much of the available adspend. However, Community Television Network’s Vanessa Du Plessis said a rise in adspend could be expected as the economy was in the early stages of growth.
In contrast to other contenders who were satisfied with the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) regulation, Vula Television said the ASA’s code was “lax”, with regulations often “too open” to interpretation.
Vula Television proposed a ban on gender and racial stereotyping and other forms of prejudice in both advertising and editorial.
Most contenders supported the proposed limit of 20% foreign ownership in the new television station, with Community Television Network arguing that it was necessary “to keep the rights of South Africans to their own airwaves”.
But Rainbow Television appealed to the IBA to “seriously consider” flexibility in this area. Malefane said the transfer of resources and skills from foreign partners would enable a fledgling South African television station to one day become world class.
However, Community Television Network argued that there were adequate resources available locally to finance the transfer of skills, deeming it unnecessary to indulge foreign partnerships.
If the IBA takes to heart the contenders’ overall view on proposed public service obligations for the new television station, viewers can look forward to more programme diversity.