The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Monday submitted that successful applicants for the country’s new cable licence should carry the SABC’s own channels and pay the state broadcaster for its intellectual property.
The SABC was appearing before Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) commissioners in Sandton on the first of 12 days of hearings into who should be granted a pay-TV licence. The authority has received 18 applications and it is not clear how many licences will be granted.
The SABC’s PowerPoint presentation said it ”informs the vision of broadcasting for total citizen empowerment”.
The hearing at Icasa’s offices in Sandton were packed with lawyers and other interested parties. There were at least 12 Icasa employees who grilled a team from the SABC.
The public broadcaster contended that other operators have an obligation to carry its public-service channels and that it must receive fair compensation for its intellectual property, the same way that any content provider would. The SABC termed these as ”must-carry” and ”must-pay” provisions.
Icasa has not actually ruled on the must-carry provisions. The SABC said it should draft these regulations ”as a matter of urgency” and take submissions if necessary.
The SABC, which is not applying for a licence, also proposed that pay-TV operators verify that a potential subscriber has a TV licence, saying that members of the public ”should not be allowed to get away with not paying their licence fees”.
It dismissed other applicants’ objections that this would be an onerous administrative burden as a ”red herring”. The SABC said it derives 20% of its annual operating revenue from licence fees and this is an important revenue stream.
Addressing the SABC’s application, Sabido subsidiary E-Sat, another applicant, said the SABC’s proposal is ”nothing short of fanciful”. Sabido is the owner of e.tv.
Dan Rosengarten, legal counsel for E-Sat, said it would be inappropriate to impose the must-carry provision, and noted that the SABC has now lumped the ”must-pay” provision with the must-carry provision. He said the terms for carrying the SABC channels should be negotiated, which implies reaching an agreement on how much, if anything, should be paid.
He said in effect that applicants would have to carry the SABC channels at their own cost as well as pay the state broadcaster for its intellectual property.
He poured cold water on the SABC’s examples of international best practice, and said in the United States a cable subscriber would not necessarily receive the free-to-air channels.
Applicants are Sentech, Ketha Media, On Digital Media, Laegoma Digital, Ndabenhle Group, Black Earth Communications, Deukom, Max TV, Telkom Media, Goal Technology Solutions, Q Digital Cable Vision, Multichannel Television, Worldspace SA, Multichoice Africa, African Spirit Trading 330, Quantic TV Network and Walking on Water Television.
Ketha Media is scheduled to appear before the Icasa commissioners on Tuesday.