Top TV loses two channels

kingrob said:
Any proof that Multichoice got government protection?

So the government did it at the expense of the SABC? Interesting.
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Dude seriously, gov gave Multichoice the only pay TV license to operate in 1990, no one else could get a license, then in 1995 they were granted a satellite pay TV license, again they were the only one. The rest, as they say is history...

Which you can read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_South_Africa
 
BGE said:
Dude seriously, gov gave Multichoice the only pay TV license to operate in 1990, no one else could get a license, then in 1995 they were granted a satellite pay TV license, again they were the only one. The rest, as they say is history...

Which you can read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_South_Africa
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In 1990, so it was still FW de Klerk. Obviously good friends with the Naspers CEO.

After 1995...guess the ANC didn't want too many competition for the sabc.
 
ave said:
No one is complaining about their content offering, but their pricing structure is terrible and they abuse their monopoly.
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Same as MTN & Vodacom did.

Why try harder when you are nr 1?
 
kingrob said:
In 1990, so it was still FW de Klerk. Obviously good friends with the Naspers CEO.

After 1995...guess the ANC didn't want too many competition for the sabc.
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In 2007 ICASA announced the issue of 4 new broadcast licences. Only in May 2010 did TopTV manage to get started.

Previous to that SABC was state subsided, and they charges a annual fee of around R250. MNET/DSTV were charging the same R250 then monthly. You can't compete when your closest competitor is earn 10x more than you are!

So effectively gov gave Multichoice an 18 year head start on the competition! That's excluded the 9year period from 1986 to 1995 when MNET was competing against SABC, prior to the launch of satelite based broadcasting.

Is that enough proof for you Kingrob?
 
jeinnor30 said:
I sure hope not, we really need competition in this country to offer these kind of services at a competitive price :-(
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Yep, agreed.
I got toptv and even kept it for months after we stopped watching.
Eventually one morning realised I had not turned the decoder on in over a month so just cancelled.
I also no longer have SABC (or monochoice).
Best decision in my life.
 
BGE said:
Oh and one more thing... Gov gave Multichoice many years of protection to entrench themselves in SA broadcast market, and sign and seal their exclusivity deals. Multichoice must be barred from offering cheaper competitive bouquets (family, select, whatever) for 5 years! They must also be forced by gov policy to share SA related sport content including cricket & rugby(provincial + national), even if the broadcast is delayed!
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What are you smoking?
 
rph72 said:
Doesn't affect me as I do not have those two bouquets, but if they drop any of the Discovery of Fox channels, I will be gone.

Seems like StarTimes (http://www.startimes.com.ng/ ??) will be taking over according to this: http://www.ondigitalmedia.co.za/ind...catid=68:business-rescue-documents&Itemid=366 . Not sure what to think of this.
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Seems like these asians know all about having to deal with Monochoice (DStv) in Africa...

http://www.nation.co.ke/business/ne...content/-/1006/1679962/-/uv6e4hz/-/index.html
 
The Competition Commission must act against Multichoice. It has achieved a dominant position in the industry through government protection. It is impossible for a second operator to compete. As a result, consumers are paying too much and suffer with a lack of alternative providers. The Competition Commission is required to act against Multichoice in order to force a competitive environment. Secondly, ICASA should be woken.
 
Milano said:
The Competition Commission must act against Multichoice. It has achieved a dominant position in the industry through government protection. It is impossible for a second operator to compete. As a result, consumers are paying too much and suffer with a lack of alternative providers. The Competition Commission is required to act against Multichoice in order to force a competitive environment. Secondly, ICASA should be woken.
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+ 1000
 
BGE said:
Yes, they did make mistakes. But for all intensive purposes, they were doomed from the word go, Gov offered zilch protection(like Multichoice had), and Multichoice were allowed to roll out opposing products that effectively killed them!

IMHO, 95% of the blame must fall on extremely poor gov regulation and policy in the broadcast industry! No one can oppose Multichoice as it stands now, not even one of the big international broadcasters!
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True only ICASA wake up when toptv want to launch porn channel.
 
Lets play the blame game and finish the sentence!

Milano said:
ICASA should be...
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Redeployed.

If TopTV go down, we'll have a monopoly once more from Naspers, just like we have in the airlines industry with SAA. Or Eskom. Or Telkom. Or the ANC. How does any country in the world continue to operate with so many monopolies controlling the market?
 
What most people don't know is that dstv actually also received his license with toptv.They were permitted to broadcast without a license for years.Also don't forget the open time that was granted to them to help them grow.
 
NAG - Wesley said:
How does any country in the world continue to operate with so many monopolies controlling the market?
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And this is what baffles or frustrates me about the present government, in that being a developing country monopolies are what are strangling meaningful economic development for it's citizens and it doing F all to help them along.....BAH!!! But who am I to comment on this issues?:(

:D But then,from (earlier link posted by Geselskap)

“Having exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League,Super Rugby,Tri-Nations(Quad-Nations??),Currie Cup, is the only advantage our competitor has over us.
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Hmmmmmm.
 
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