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

[pinball wizard]

This is either good or bad depending with where you are looking it from. At the end of the day, our local talent must be natured and protected and the only way to do that is to minimize international content.

I didn't read the rest of your post, as the opening gambit is 100000% pure, grade A horseshit.

 

[Cray]

I don't think this is necessarily true.

Having a whole library of stuff isn't necessarily an advantage. A smaller selection, carefully curated for the good stuff, can be quite a bit better.

Like I said, it would help me pick what to watch.

Nah, who gets to decide what we should all watch? More choice is always better, making the pool smaller and then filling it partially with shows I have zero interest in is all downside to me..

 

[LCBXX]

There are various areas that I've read about that do/will require this sort of local catalogue. Canada, where most TV seems to be made these days anyway, and Europe which is a giant market. SA is a minuscule market...

I can easily see making an example out of SA if the regulations become too onerous. Don't forget the government is already planning on charging a licensing fee on top of their local contents demands.

I'm curious to see how Government will try and weasel a TV-licence type charge from streaming. What they're proposing is effectively a licence to access the internet.

 

[supersunbird]

This is either good or bad depending with where you are looking it from. At the end of the day, our local talent must be natured and protected and the only way to do that is to minimize international content. At the same time, one would argue that local content is so boring to be paying all the money for. This means DSTV Multichoice will win again and a lot of people will be disappointed since a number of their clients are not happy with the service. But more jobs will be retained in SA. This also means that a lot of people who love international content will just subscribe to VPN companies like Surfshark or Nord VPN and stream Netflix and all the other international content at an additional cost of R50 or so. Of which most people who stream Netflix will definitely afford VPN services. So this is interesting. We saw that happening in Zimbabwe as well when the government introduced a lot of regulation on local content. 2 things happened there, namely 1) A lot of local talent emerged. There was a number of local artists that started showcasing their music and tv Dramas. 2) A lot of people Installed a lot of DSTV such that there is a DSTV on every house until now in Zimbabwe and no one watches the Local tv programs. Considering that in Zimbabwe the government imposed that before streaming online was a thing. We will have to see how this unfolds here in SA.

Nurtured.

So what happened in the end in Zimbabwe, did the local talent benefit over the longer term or only over a very short term? Since almost everyone is now watching DSTV and not the local TV programs as you say, or does the DSTV feature better quality local shows?

 

[CAPS LOCK]

On the other hand, a vastly reduced library will make the process of choosing what to watch somewhat easier.

Chopping one leg off also makes doing-up shoelaces somewhat easier.

 

[marhsava]

Hi, without researching will this work using my Ematic android device?

Yup it will work , using his on my ematic device , just download the torguard app

 

[newby_investor]

It's mindblowing that some don't quite get the idea or appeal behind Netflix. Choice is king, that's why people pay for it. Backwards.

I mean I understand your argument.

But too much choice is also not necessarily helpful. Imagine you came to a restaurant and they brought you a menu the size of a phone book. How are you actually supposed to actually find anything, unless you know exactly what you're looking for?

I used to have a fairly good relationship with a DVD rental place owner. He had a fairly extensive selection, but he also knew what was good because he watched a lot of movies, so I was never disappointed when he recommended something. Stuff that I wouldn't have looked for myself because I didn't know about it.

 

[bwana]

But too much choice is also not necessarily helpful. Imagine you came to a restaurant and they brought you a menu the size of a phone book. How are you actually supposed to actually find anything, unless you know exactly what you're looking for?

Most of the time you go to the restaurant that suits your taste. Fish, steak, Italian... Netflix is more of a food court.

 

[Veridion]

In a dictatorship people find ways to have freedom of choice.

 

[Polymathic]

In a dictatorship people find ways to have freedom of choice.

In a dictatorship people have the illusion of choice

 

[j4ck455]

This is either good or bad depending with where you are looking it from. At the end of the day, our local talent must be natured and protected and the only way to do that is to minimize international content. At the same time, one would argue that local content is so boring to be paying all the money for. This means DSTV Multichoice will win again and a lot of people will be disappointed since a number of their clients are not happy with the service. But more jobs will be retained in SA. This also means that a lot of people who love international content will just subscribe to VPN companies like Surfshark or Nord VPN and stream Netflix and all the other international content at an additional cost of R50 or so. Of which most people who stream Netflix will definitely afford VPN services. So this is interesting. We saw that happening in Zimbabwe as well when the government introduced a lot of regulation on local content. 2 things happened there, namely 1) A lot of local talent emerged. There was a number of local artists that started showcasing their music and tv Dramas. 2) A lot of people Installed a lot of DSTV such that there is a DSTV on every house until now in Zimbabwe and no one watches the Local tv programs. Considering that in Zimbabwe the government imposed that before streaming online was a thing. We will have to see how this unfolds here in SA.

Netflix on its own is very affordable compared to say DSTV, but you do need a decent stable low latency internet connection for Netflix, so it's more like 'people that can afford FTTH will be able to afford a VPN service'.

Do Zimbabwean keyboards not have a Carriage Return (Enter) key?

 

[newby_investor]

Netflix on its own is very affordable compared to say DSTV, but you do need a decent stable low latency internet connection for Netflix, so it's more like 'people that can afford FTTH will be able to afford a VPN service'.

Do Zimbabwean keyboards not have a Carriage Return (Enter) key?

Low-latency isn't that critical for Netflix. High bandwidth isn't even that big a deal either, if you are on the cheap option and they do take pains to optimise things. They have a big market e.g. in India. So it's not in their economic interest to be too internet-heavy.

 

[j4ck455]

Low-latency isn't that critical for Netflix. High bandwidth isn't even that big a deal either, if you are on the cheap option and they do take pains to optimise things. They have a big market e.g. in India. So it's not in their economic interest to be too internet-heavy.

You need low latency for streaming over a VPN, otherwise you will get frames dropped because they are received too late or the buffering to insanity effect.

I've used Netflix on a 4Mbps FTTH line before (uncapped) and for one Netflix stream it was reasonably ok more than adequate, for more than one concurrent Netflix stream you need more bandwidth.

I don't bother using Netflix on LTE connections, so no idea what that's like, other than a data bundle depletion nightmare, I expect someone using Rain (uncapped) for Netflix will have a few things to say.

 

[newby_investor]

You need low latency for streaming over a VPN, otherwise you will get frames dropped because they are received too late or the buffering to insanity effect.

I've used Netflix on a 4Mbps FTTH line before (uncapped) and for one Netflix stream it was reasonably ok more than adequate, for more than one concurrent Netflix stream you need more bandwidth.

I don't bother using Netflix on LTE connections, so no idea what that's like, other than a data bundle depletion nightmare, I expect someone using Rain (uncapped) for Netflix will have a few things to say.

Right. I missed the VPN thing. I've never tried that myself, only ever bothered with the local offering. Netflix works just fine in HD on my 10Mb/s line (never tried watching on a higher-res screen, so can't say about more than that). I was on Rain LTE for a while and it was fine there, but as I mentioned, no VPN.

 

[LCBXX]

How will Government force YouTube to carry 30% local content when it thinks it can enforce it onto Netflix?

 

[wingnut771]

Right. I missed the VPN thing. I've never tried that myself, only ever bothered with the local offering. Netflix works just fine in HD on my 10Mb/s line (never tried watching on a higher-res screen, so can't say about more than that). I was on Rain LTE for a while and it was fine there, but as I mentioned, no VPN.

AFAIK, local netflix is cached locally anyway, so latency is pretty low already, regardless of LTE or fiber.

 

[Nerfherder]

I don't

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

I don't think its a populist think at all.

Its vendictive.

 

[newby_investor]

AFAIK, local netflix is cached locally anyway, so latency is pretty low already, regardless of LTE or fiber.

But presumably if using a VPN, you'd be looking to get the stuff that isn't available locally?

 

[HawkiesZA]

A spokesperson for MultiChoice – the owner of Showmax – told City Press that its 59,000 hours of local material across DStv and its other platforms already exceeded the proposed minimum requirement.

Ooooh, fun! Tinfoil hat time - was Multichoice at all involved in the making of this decision so that they can gain an upper hand?

 

[j4ck455]

How will Government force YouTube to carry 30% local content when it thinks it can enforce it onto Netflix?

IIRC, in one of the MyBB articles, the idiot from government said something to the effect that YouTube would be exempt from the 30% local requirement.

That said, "regional YouTube" for SA probably already has a lot more than 30% local content ("quality" stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vernon+koekemoer).

AFAIK, local netflix is cached locally anyway, so latency is pretty low already, regardless of LTE or fiber.

I know that Cool Ideas (@TheRoDent @PBCool) has some sort of Netflix cacheing/shadowing setup, no idea if other local caches exist provided by Netflix (or AWS), but small ISPs are unlikely to be able to pull off any kind of effective Netflix cacheing.