Digital TV in South Africa: no encryption needed, says Cabinet

There have also been unanswered questions regarding a deal between DStv and the SABC in which the public broadcaster reportedly agreed to not make its channels available on an encrypted DTT platform.
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How could this possibly hold up in an anti-trust case?
 
Maxson_N said:
Is this a good thing??..
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Well, if they show movies and stuff from US origin, I imagine the MPAA will have some issues because then it would be easy to copy movies off the broadcast.

But knowing free broadcasters, they will insert an ad every 2 minutes
 
So by allowing unencrypted they are effectively allowing the SABC to collect tv licence fees, regardless of your intention to watch their channels.
 
HBee said:
So by allowing unencrypted they are effectively allowing the SABC to collect tv licence fees, regardless of your intention to watch their channels.
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Yes, but the TV license should be scrapped in any case. It is one of many taxes that shouldn't exist.
 
Sad thing that happened.

While i'm sure no CA provides an effortless solution to dtt, this is just plain shortsighted and not beneficial in the long run.
  • No any form of premium content is available to an open system
  • Encryption would make it easy for providers to enter paytv.Monochoice's R500 MILLION bribe to the SABC just paid off.Just look at Africa,plenty dtt pay offerings,latest one,Azami,will start in Tanzania.Startimes has 2.5 million customers in Africa on dtt alone. And now will dstv most likely be the only pay offering with their Go service.
  • We will now be flooded with thousands of cheap receivers.
  • It is a lie that encryption would make the boxes expensive.DVB-T2 boxes are being sold all over Africa for less than $40,with encryption.
 
Summary:
  • protect the interests of the SABC
  • reduce the prospects of legal action from broadcasters and entrepreneurs that would hold-up the migration process.
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Probably means you will have to pay SABC TV License if you get a STB.
 
Biggie said:
Sad thing that happened.

While i'm sure no CA provides an effortless solution to dtt, this is just plain shortsighted and not beneficial in the long run.
  • No any form of premium content is available to an open system
  • Encryption would make it easy for providers to enter paytv.Monochoice's R500 MILLION bribe to the SABC just paid off.Just look at Africa,plenty dtt pay offerings,latest one,Azami,will start in Tanzania.Startimes has 2.5 million customers in Africa on dtt alone. And now will dstv most likely be the only pay offering with their Go service.
  • We will now be flooded with thousands of cheap receivers.
  • It is a lie that encryption would make the boxes expensive.DVB-T2 boxes are being sold all over Africa for less than $40,with encryption.
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Why do you want encryption for the public broadcaster? It would have been an unnecessary waste. This is a good thing. Now we can use the built in DVB-T2 tuners in most new screens. No STB's needed... and for people with older screens, a FTA STB will be cheeper than one with a CAM and smartcard.
 
Quantum Theory said:
Why do you want encryption for the public broadcaster? It would have been an unnecessary waste. This is a good thing. Now we can use the built in DVB-T2 tuners in most new screens. No STB's needed... and for people with older screens, a FTA STB will be cheeper than one with a CAM and smartcard.
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The long term benefits of a secure system outweights the once off small cost that is saved on the stb.Dvb-t2 boxes are selling for $40-$45 in many African countries,with encryption.Now dstv also argue that the stb will be much more expensive.You share the same sentiment so you would have to show me a real cost difference that will points to a much higher cost.

Smartcards are so yesterday and costly,i'm talking cardless conditional access here. Nagravision,NDS and even Irdeto have cardless solutions which is low cost.I believe Zuku tv in Kenya also uses the cardless Verimatrix encryption.The sabc channels will still be free,but the platform will be secured.Not only does a secure platform gives you access to better content,small paytv operators could have piggyback on it,making niche content feasible.

Just think,companies like Closetv ,they applied for a license, could have run a 1 or 2 channel paid offering on top of this for like R15 a month,authorized at a closetv point.Many smaller providers could have provided niche content the same way and you as the customer could've had 3/4/5 subscribed channels you actually want from different providers,but one universal box.
 
Hence Multichoice wanted none of it and paid off SABC not to do it.
 
Biggie said:
The long term benefits of a secure system outweights the once off small cost that is saved on the stb.Dvb-t2 boxes are selling for $40-$45 in many African countries,with encryption.Now dstv also argue that the stb will be much more expensive.You share the same sentiment so you would have to show me a real cost difference that will points to a much higher cost.

Smartcards are so yesterday and costly,i'm talking cardless conditional access here. Nagravision,NDS and even Irdeto have cardless solutions which is low cost.I believe Zuku tv in Kenya also uses the cardless Verimatrix encryption.The sabc channels will still be free,but the platform will be secured.Not only does a secure platform gives you access to better content,small paytv operators could have piggyback on it,making niche content feasible.

Just think,companies like Closetv ,they applied for a license, could have run a 1 or 2 channel paid offering on top of this for like R15 a month,authorized at a closetv point.Many smaller providers could have provided niche content the same way and you as the customer could've had 3/4/5 subscribed channels you actually want from different providers,but one universal box.
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Well, you are not happy, but we sure are... This is what most players in the industry wanted.
 
Quantum Theory said:
Well, you are not happy, but we sure are... This is what most players in the industry wanted.
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Reading the op again it seems that all is not lost."Encryption is not mandatory but the subsidized boxes will have a control mechanism". Can you spot the loophole there?

It looks like it will indeed have a cardless CA.The sabc channels will be fta but the subsidized box will have to be activated,making it possible for other providers to use it,switch a pay signal on/off to a subsidized box..It is actually a clever move
 
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