DTT policy review continuing despite SABC's MultiChoice deal

The Department of Communications is continuing its review of the policy on access control for set-top boxes (STBs) needed for the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), according to a reply to a DA parliamentary question. 

This is despite the threat of punitive financial penalties for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), should it adopt such controls for its free to air TV broadcasts.

Communications Minister, Yunus Carrim, gave no further details of who was involved in this review or when it would conclude, and confirmed that independent facilitators had been called in by the Department of Communications to seek consensus "among the feuding parties".

The DA will submit follow-up questions to Minister Carrim to determine whether SABC's Acting Chief Operating Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, had the government's approval to decide that the broadcaster's TV programmes will be made freely available without access control systems and, if not, what actions will be taken against him. 

The Minister must also answer what steps will be taken to re-negotiate these terms of the SABC's contract with MultiChoice, as well as whether the Interim SABC Board that approved this deal sought clarity from the government on whether the public broadcaster was authorised to sign away the need for an access control system.

In its deal, signed on 3 July 2013, for two 24-hour TV channels on the MultiChoice subscriber channels, the SABC agreed that "should any one or more of the SABC FTA [free-to-air] channels be made available on the SABC DTT platform in South Africa at any time during the term [of the deal] on an encrypted basis, and that access to the SABC FTA channel(s) is/are controlled or limited by means of a conditional access systems or otherwise not freely available for viewing" penalties would apply.

MultiChoice could then suspend the agreement by which it pays SABC R553 million over five years for the rights to flight its 24-hour news and entertainment channel on its platform and ask for its money back, or continue to air the channels without paying further fees, or be refunded by SABC for the money paid.

SABC and eTV were early champions of the need for an access control system on STBs and this was seen as a critical component of the local STB manufacturing strategy for which about 36 South African electronics companies bid, last September, for the manufacturing rights.

Transparency and clarity is needed to ensure that the deal between the SABC and MultiChoice will not hamper the public broadcaster, or the Department of Communications, to deliver on their DTT transition promises.

Statement issued by Marian Shinn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Communications, October 8 2013

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