Bid to can licence fee for sites

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched a petition for the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to cancel its proposed TV licence fee for subscription services.

The SABC proposed the new regulation to update the current scope of an annual TV licence. It hopes to see all customers paying to watch television through service providers such as DStv, streaming sites such as Netflix, Showmax and Amazon Prime, and even aims to rope in Apple TV.

Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Pinky Kekana, said in October the SABC’s suggestion is also in line with government’s proposal to help the embattled broadcaster improve its financial position.

Last month, the SABC issued Section 189 letters to staff members, with the possibility of retrenchments. Staff salaries reportedly cost 43% of the broadcaster’s total expenditure.

In the DA’s petition, it said the public has already “had to suffer the consequences of the billions in bailouts the SABC has received via the public purse”.

It said the law currently states that consumers must pay a TV licence fee to view broadcasting services.

Just one decade ago, this would have meant paying to watch content on a television set. But with the advent of multiple streaming services raking in countless more profits than public broadcasters, a slight adjustment might be made.

This also means that essentially, consumers would be paying TV licences to watch any content on cellphones, tablets, laptops and computers, as well as on their TV screens.

The draft white paper “intends to modernise the South Africa broadcasting landscape, by reviewing the current policies…”

The proposals set out in the draft white paper, the department said, was to align South Africa’s policies with the fourth industrial revolution. In this way, it said, the National Development Plan of 2030 can be realised and new trends invested in, to create a “reimagined industrial strategy”.

Experts said this could push struggling consumers to the point where they either stop paying their TV licences altogether, or find a way to pay less.