Netflix library in South Africa will have to be cut down to meet local content quota – Report

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Netflix library in South Africa will have to be cut down to meet local content quota – Report​

Netflix and other international streaming services will likely have to cut their libraries to meet new local content quotas planned by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, according a report from City Press.

The department recently published a whitepaper on broadcasting in which it announced plans to impose a 30% local content quota on video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Showmax.

“The spirit behind this whitepaper is to ensure a future for the South African broadcasting sector,” the department’s chief director of broadcasting policy Collin Mashile recently said.

 

[Cray]

Morons.

 

[Mortymoose]

Back to the dark art of torrenting I go.......

 

[Willie Trombone]

 

[saor]

How does this achieve anything? Is their dumb idea that with less to watch people will turn to local content?

 

[Herr der Verboten]

How does this achieve anything? Is their dumb idea that with less to watch people will turn to local content?

It's just more of the same: popularist paper pushing.

 

[am-user]

I want to be a VPN user!

 

[SlowInternet]

Some people were not lucky enough to be blessed with the ability of making logical decisions.

 

[marhsava]

Doesn't bother me, I am watching US Netflix, day and night difference between SA and US Netflix , I use torguard if anyone is interested.

 

[Marc123]

All it will do is make the VPN companies richer

I would rather pay a VPN service that they can actually provide, rather than support the corrupt SABC paying their executives insane bonuses for not delivering anything useful.

 

[j4ck455]

While Netflix does feature over 40 South African films and 20 dramas and series, the argument from the department is that this is very small when compared to its wide range of international movies and series – which numbers in the thousands.

I foresee all of the episodes of a single SA soapie being available on Netflix, IsiStinko or 7de Laan (not that anyone will ever want to watch any of that crap), those episodes will outnumber everything currently in the Netflix SA catalogue by several orders of magnitude.

“They comply with these sorts of requirements in other countries and we believe they will in South Africa, too. If there are challenges, they can engage with ICASA. Our approach is one of cooperation and understanding,” Molakeng said.

Who knew that one of the "Care Bears" was working for government?

 

[Herr der Verboten]

Some people were not lucky enough to be blessed with the ability of making logical decisions.

You left rsa already; logical decision and all.

 

[Herr der Verboten]

All it will do is make the VPN companies richer

I would rather pay a VPN service that they can actually provide, rather than support the corrupt SABC paying their executives insane bonuses for not delivering anything useful.

But you still pay taxes

 

[Messugga]

How does this achieve anything? Is their dumb idea that with less to watch people will turn to local content?

Their thinking is likely that they can bully Netflix into funding local content development. Problem is, we're tiny versus a country like Nigeria, so will it work or will Netflix just cut and run?

 

[saor]

Their thinking is likely that they can bully Netflix into funding local content development. Problem is, we're tiny versus a country like Nigeria, so will it work or will Netflix just cut and run?

That's stupid tho - expecting handouts from the world to use for local development. SA could likely fund such local development if our purses weren't stolen from all the time. This whole thing irritates me: Some shitty local government making demands from international companies like this because we're too incompetent to leverage our own abilities to build things.

 

[Polymathic]

called it

 

[username and 23 others]

If there are challenges, they can engage with ICASA.

... but only with a little "something-something" in hand to iron out these challenges.

 

[3WA]

Just broadcast adverts for opposition parties until government reverses this.

 

[shearder]

It'll be goodbye Netflix and hello "old way of doing things".

I will never pay the government another cent

 

[RVQ]

How does this achieve anything? Is their dumb idea that with less to watch people will turn to local content?

Because the SABC is failing a lot of the ANC NEC members, friends and family are no longer cashing in on tax payer money, with Tito tightening budgets and SABC sinking, these useless cadres are now thinking they can milk international companies by getting them to 'invest' in local productions i.e. their shelf companies.... Has nothing to do with improving the lives of every day South Africans, everything the ANC NEC does is for the ANC NEC!