Existing South African broadcasters saying its madness to licence and introduce new TV broadcasters when digital terrestrial television (DTT) finally one day start in South Africa, are squaring off against wannabe broadcasters and companies who want to start new TV broadcasting channels as well as pay-TV services during the same time.
Some companies like Kagiso Media, MSG Afrika which recently made a failed bid for TopTV, and Primedia have been mulling and are itching to start TV services in South Africa.
They want to add to the flurry of channels when existing broadcasters like pay-TV broadcaster M-Net, the public broadcaster SABC, and the commercial free-to-air broadcaster e.tv each expand their respective TV channel line-ups to about 8 TV channels or more when DTT finally launches in South Africa.
Public hearings got underway at South Africa's broadcasting regulator which is looking into specifically the possible introduction of further TV competition within the South African television industry and the shape and form it should take, as well as diversity in TV broadcasting, when DTT - a process long-delayed in South Africa - finally starts in this country.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) gave the South African public less than 16 hours notice about the public hearings which was held yesterday and where broadcasters such as the SABC and e.tv as well as new possible players Kagiso Media took widely differing stances on whether new entrants should be allowed when DTT starts.
e.tv complained that existing broadcasters have been allocated to little multiplex spectrum making it almost impossible for a broadcaster such as e.tv to offer high definition (HD) channels.
e.tv, similar to the SABC and M-Net, has each been allocated a limited portion of spectrum which allows for a certain number of new TV channels. An HD channel or more than one HD channel will dramatically lessen the total overall number of TV channels a broadcaster can offer since it gobbles up more spectrum.
e.tv complained about the ongoing delays of the start of DTT and the switch-over process, saying it is making it more difficult for e.tv to grow TV audiences and that the delay is causing MultiChoice which runs the DStv satellite pay-TV platform to grow its subscriber base and entrench itself further.
The SABC told Icasa that the start of DTT is definitely not the time to licence new additional TV channels since existing broadcasters will already have a very difficult time to do the costly switch from analogue to digital broadcasting with operating costs which will soar running new channels and securing content, as audience fragmentation grows due to the availability of more TV channels.
The SABC asked Icasa to first do a regulatory impact study of what the result will be for South Africa's TV industry if new broadcasters are to be licensed at the same time as DTT starting. The SABC said new TV competition must be timed correctly and that the digital migration period is not the right time to start new TV services in the country.
Kagiso Media told Icasa that the longer the introduction of DTT is delayed and if new TV competition is not introduced, new TV broadcaster entrants into South Africa's TV industry are less and less likely to succeed, citing the problems and struggles with On Digital Media (ODM) and its TopTV service which is currently in business rescue.
Kagiso Media also told Icasa that measures should be put in place to give new TV entrants a chance to get access to premium TV content, citing TopTV's failure to access sport content.
Kagiso Media which wants to start both free-to-air commercial TV channels as well as a pay-TV service similar to M-Net, also wants new digital terrestrial pay-TV services to get "open time" broadcasting windows where their signals can be broadcast unencoded so that potential subscribers can see the content. Kagiso Media told Icasa this will help new pay-TV broadcasters in South Africa to see what new TV services exist.
