MultiChoice has lost the plot
THE Naspers-owned pay-TV outfit MultiChoice launched an astonishing attack on Communications Minister Yunus Carrim in this newspaper two weeks ago, accusing him of messing up SA’s digital broadcasting policy.
The attack was as astonishing as it was misdirected.
For a start, the policy is not the work of the minister, but was first decided in 2008 and affirmed in December by the entire cabinet.
At the root of the problem is whether government will ensure there is a new “set-top box” (STB) control system installed in the millions of new decoders that every South African will have to get to continue receiving even the freeto-air channels of SABC and e.tv once they migrate to digital, rather than analogue, broadcasts.
It is no surprise that MultiChoice disagrees, and is now attacking the plan to introduce set-top box control systems in the new decoders.
MultiChoice, it seems, is trying to entrench its near monopoly by getting the control system removed — this from a company that held a licensed monopoly in the payTV market for more than 20 years. To boost its business, M-Net was also initially allowed to broadcast unencrypted, free-to-air content from 5pm to 7pm daily.
Now MultiChoice seeks to further raise the bar for new or existing pay-TV competitors with its opposition to the STB control system.
It would be a violation of the principles of competition law for MultiChoice to be able to determine the conditions under which potential competitors entered the market.
This is why we fully support the decision by the Independent Communications Agency of SA (Icasa) to launch an inquiry into competition in the broadcasting market in South Africa.
As Icasa says: “Consumers locked into MultiChoice contracts are confronted by escalating costs with no relief in sight.” It is about time someone championed the rights of these people.
We as the SA Communica- tions Forum — a non-profit association of companies in the telecoms, IT and broadcasting industries, including set-top box makers— disagree with MultiChoice.
We believe that including the control systems in the settop boxes will be best for consumers, best for competition, and will support the development of the electronics industry in South Africa.
This is important because the industry has been shrinking in recent years, partly due to the fact that cheaply made imports and electronic goods have flooded the local market.
The new draft broadcasting digital migration policy would allow the broadcasters themselves to choose whether to use the “control system” or not.
The attack by MultiChoice was misleading as it stated that the policy required encryption. This is simply untrue. The policy required that a control system be provided in each set-top box — but the choice of encrypting their signal or not is left up to each broadcaster to decide.
Inclusion of the control system would provide a better experience for viewers of the free-to-air broadcasts.
Consider Kenya, which is ahead of South Africa when it comes to the move to digital broadcasting. Initially, Kenya wanted a control system in their set-top boxes — and then scrapped this requirement. But then the Kenyan market was flooded with cheap, poorly made set-top box imports.
Our country ought to promote reliable and future-proof technology that will provide a proper viewer experience — not cheap imports that can fail at any time, without any recourse. ýBraithwaite- Kabosha is CEO of the SA Communications Forum