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Question of the Day: What is the best form of potatoes?
Sign up with GoogleCellphone television may come at a price
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GreatBigMouth
Expert Member
These people amuse me. Why should you aquire a licence to use a feature on your mobile? TV licences won't work for cellphones. How on earth will they be able to keep track of who bought licenses and who didn't?
I don't agree with the concept but with the new cellular laws coming in requiring registration of phones etc. the operators/retailers could just be forced to record which phones have TV capabilities and then the SABC could compare that to their database and have a nice list of people who weren't paying to harass.
I think how that works is if you have a device which is capable of receiving TV signals, you are obligated to buy TV licence, that works on TV's you bought, they don't care if you only connect your TV to your VCR or DVD and don't watch TV at all, you pay for TV licence when you purchase your TV, also goes with some LCD monitor with TV tuner card intergrated, fine print 'TV licence required'..... So when you have a phone which is capable to receive TV signal, you will PAY even you might never use it, I think ICASA will change its regulations soon so they can charge users who use IPTV or Internet streaming for TV licence.......
In such cases you could consider getting your tv 'denatured' where the receiver is removed or disabled by a technician. A denatured tv doesnt require licensing.
So if I were to get my TV "denatured" and then plug my DSTV decoder into it through the AV input that'd be legal?
According to tvlic.co.za
The question is - is DSTV a broadcast television signal?
diabolus
Executive Member
So i assume this primarily relates to phones able to receive TV SIGNALS [analog?] . I don't see how they can regulate streamed TV [digital?] that basically goes via your broadband connection. How will the determine you are watching tv via HSDPA or just browsing?
Besides if i am gonna pay through my teeth to watch tv on my phone [most probably what will be the case], the chances that i will watch SABC or any ad-infested south african channel is zero. I would be watching some sort of american/british tv [bypassing "no-choice" in the process too]
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DavidJ
Well-Known Member
Isn't it possible to restrict which channels individual users will be able to receive using the technology and based on the subscription models they will put in place? I.e. unlike with normal TVs, they could simply physically prevent you from receiving SABC content unless you actually pay for it. So no need for an additional tax; the SABC should just be another content provider, like Multichoice or any other, that would solve the problem. Are they worried nobody would subscribe, so they have to use laws? Or am I mistaken on whether or not the system allows subscribing to different providers/channels? (I've written an opinion here on this.)
Agreed, but if not then maybe One licence to cover all?...
Why the consumer should be forced to pay for bad programming is beyond me. eTV is forced to survive on its own merit. IMO the channels should be charged the licensing fee not the consumer as it is done in the US.
Unless the handsets can receive SABC programming like a normal TV set they have no legal basis for charging a "TV license" fee.
That's as good as charging for a service not provided and the SABC would have a hard time in court even with the government on their side.
That would be like the SABC charging PC users a "TV license" if they watch videos on YouTube.
That's as good as charging for a service not provided and the SABC would have a hard time in court even with the government on their side.
That would be like the SABC charging PC users a "TV license" if they watch videos on YouTube.
damian24
Senior Member
Ummm, that not correct, legally, the basis for charging for a TV lic is if you have a device capable of receiving broadcast TV, even if you're not watching SABC.
You can however get away with this, VodaCom's IPTV service requires no licence at this point, DVB-H, DVB-T and DVB-S, will al require licences for now, DAB with layer 4 audio, is unlikely to need a licence as it will be primarily a data service for radio (apparently the go ahead has been given unofficially for this standard). as for DVB-H and T, I've seen a couple of electronics manufacturers for car audio starting to integrate DVB-H/T and DAB, thus you car will need a licence too soon if some sanity doesn't return to ICASA soon, personally, I think they'll adopt a household licence and everyone living on a site is then automatically licenced.
D
Well considering its encrypted and can't be received with normal broadcast equipment I'd say no, although I suspect they might disagree.
If they want to disagree then they need to amend the regs.Well considering its encrypted and can't be received with normal broadcast equipment I'd say no, although I suspect they might disagree.
Until then I'll keep my money thanks - it will stop them from wasting it.