On Wednesday, the third of 12 days of public hearings by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) into the granting of new satellite pay-TV licences to broadcasters, it became obvious that the application of the fifth applicant — the Ndabenhle Group — will most likely be dead in the water.
During the Icasa hearings, held in Sandton, the Ndabenhle Group — isiZulu for “good story” — presented its case and answered questions from other candidates and Icasa commissioners. However, the submission by the members of the 100% black-owned company soon appeared incomplete, inconsistent and unclear.
After the Ndabenhle Group’s presentation, the legal counsel for fellow applicant E-Sat, Dan Rosengarten, tore apart its ramshackle submission and questioned whether Ndabenhle would be able to launch its proposed service with R75-million.
He also raised concerns on the substantial cost of the decoder, stating it would be too expensive for subscribers. “I think the high start-up costs of the set-top box are contradictory to the Ndabenhle Group’s claim that it will be focusing on people with lower levels of disposable income.”
Rosengarten also questioned whether the two-year-old company had done proper market research.
Members of the Ndabenhle Group struggled to provide sufficient answers and dodged questions about funding. Regarding the set-top boxes, the group’s executive director, Dingaan Daka, said the boxes “will be affordable” and said the company was not planning “to gain profit from the sale of the decoder boxes”. However, in its presentation it said it planned to gain 14% of its initial income from sales of the boxes.
After the Icasa commissioners pointed out numerous errors as well as incomplete or confusing paragraphs in the submission — even realising the documents they had been given were mixed up — Ndabenhle Group legal adviser Siyabonga Mahlangu apologised deeply to Zolisa Masiza, chairperson of Icasa, saying the group did not intend to mislead the authority.
When another commissioner’s question wasn’t answered sufficiently by the Ndabenhle Group, Masiza joked: “I am a recovering lawyer. Can we please get to the point?”
The Ndabenhle Group now has to refile a substantial part of its submission to Icasa within seven days.
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.