ICASA hearings today - Digital Terrestrial TV Draft Regulations

[Kate Skinner]

Hello all

 

The SOS Coalition, our member Media Monitoring Africa, and the SABC will be making presentations to ICASA today. Please find the SOS's oral presentation and the SABC's written presentation attached. The deadline for written submissions was last year November.

 

Do have a look at all the written submissions on ICASA's website. They make for fascinating reading.

 

In a nutshell SOS is calling for greater diversity of players and thus for the licensing of new players on the present 2 multiplexes. Also, we are calling for the licensing of new players on the third multiplex "n". (We have also been informed that there is a mobile multiplex that could be used immediately for the licensing of new players.) We are calling for ICASA to immediately do research into competition issues including market analyses to ensure the sustainabilty of new players.

 

The SABC submission is fairly short it refers to a few key issues and asks some questions such as what are ICASA's plans for the 10% of multiplex 1 that has now been set aside for future use. The SABC believes that this capacity should not be used for the first two to three years of DTT, only at analogue switch off. It points out that the roll out targets of digital infrastructure of 80% by 2012 and 95% by 2013 are dependent on Sentech. Further, the SABC makes comments about the costs of multiplexing infrastructure to link up all the new community players in multiplex 1. It asks who will pay these costs and suggests that this burden should be covered by the community broadcasters themselves.

 

All the best

Kate

 

Kate Skinner

Coordinator

SOS: Support Public Broadcasting

(082) 926-6404

 

Sign onto our public broadcasting principles petition on the SOS home page - www.supportpublicbroadcasting.co.za 

 

Twitter: sos_za