SABC, DStv sign new deal

The controversial channel supply agreement between the SABC and MultiChoice has run its course, with the two broadcasters signing a new deal that allows SABC News and SABC Encore to continue to be broadcast on DStv.

The companies signed the original, five-year deal – worth R550 million to the SABC – in 2013, when Hlaudi Motsoeneng was chief operating officer at the public broadcaster.

SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini last year described that agreement as “unlawful”.

Last year, leaked minutes of a meeting between the SABC and MultiChoice showed that MultiChoice executives made it clear to SABC bosses that the channel supply deal would not go ahead if the SABC refused to agree to a clause that it would not carry its free-to-air channels on any terrestrial digital platform that used encryption.

Those leaked minutes were widely publicised.

At the time, MultiChoice and rival e.tv were engaged in a rancorous battle over encryption.

The e.tv channel wanted it, saying it was necessary to secure better programming from international content providers.

MultiChoice, on the other hand, was strongly opposed, arguing that including “conditional access” (a method of controlling set-top boxes, which is typically employed by pay-TV operators) in the five million boxes that would be subsidised by government for poorer households, would allow prospective competitors an unfair entry into the market.

It argued encryption wasn’t in the interests of consumers or the country and ran counter to international best practice.

MultiChoice SA chair Nolo Letele later said of the leaked minutes that the pressure the company exerted on the SABC was “part of a sales pitch and negotiating tactic, as is usual in negotiations”.

MultiChoice has consistently denied that there were improper dealings in formulating the original channel supply agreement.

The SABC said last week that the new agreement with MultiChoice “follows extensive discussions between the parties” and that it “will give their relationship a new start”.

SABC chief executive Madoda Mxakwe reportedly described it as a “clean deal”.

“DStv customers will continue to enjoy around-the-clock news coverage from SABC News on channel 404, while SABC Encore on channel 156 will allow viewers to indulge in nostalgia, airing old favourites and classics,” it said.

“The SABC archives, which it uses to produce Encore, remain wholly owned property of the SABC.”

The terms of the new agreement, including its duration, have not been disclosed.

This article was first published on TechCentral