Must-carry regulations published

28 Oct 2008

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has published two final must-carry regulations aimed at ensuring that the broadcasting industry operates well. This follows a process in which interested parties were consulted to ensure that the outcomes address the needs of the industry.

The public broadcaster and subscription broadcasters have been at loggerheads, with the SABC proposing that MultiChoice and the new entrants Telkom Media, Walking on Water (WoW) and On Digital Media (ODM) should pay for the content of SABC1, 2 and 3. According to the SABC, these channels boost the uptake of subscription services in the market.

On the other hand, e.tv has been also calling upon the regulator to include it in any must-carry policy if new pay channels will be forced to carry commercial station SABC3 on their platforms.

The first set of regulations addresses the must-carry obligations, while the second addresses contributions to the Universal Service Access Fund. The regulations also prescribes the extent to which subscription broadcast services must carry, subject to commercially negotiable terms, the TV programmes provided by a public broadcasting service licensee.

Contribute 0.2% to fund

In terms of the regulations, every licenee will have to contribute 0. 2% of annual turnover derived from the licensee's licence activity to the fund. Furthermore, a broadcasting service licensee, which has paid an annual contribution to the MDDA, must set off that contribution against its prescribed annual contribution to the fund.

The private electronic communications networks which resell additional capacity will also have to contribute 0.2% to the fund, based on the annual revenue derived from reselling that additional capacity.

Says Marilyn Watson, MultiChoice external communications manager, “MultiChoice welcomes the publication of the ‘must carry rules'. We believe the regulations are in line with the objectives set out in the Electronic Communications Act, that is, to ensure that pay television services should carry the public broadcasting services in their platforms. Such carriage serves to extend the reach and coverage of the public broadcasting services as satellite gives 100% immediate access to all.”

Watson also says that “the regulations also ensure that public broadcasting services of the SABC are available on a number of platforms, assisting the public broadcaster to reach its statutory mandate of universal access. While there are certainly costs implications for pay television operators, MultiChoice believes it's a cost that we shall absorb as it is in the public interests.”

According to Vasili Vass, e.tv head of publicity, e.tv is studying the regulations and is unable to comment at this stage.