Has Johncom just made a high-definition error?
Naspers, which has never been shy to invest in new technology, must have jumped at the opportunity to gain full control in the rollout of high-definition digital television in this country.
In Japan, consumers are buying high-definition liquid crystal display televisions like there is no tomorrow, to the extent that components for these systems are occasionally in short supply in Asia. The result is that analogue televisions like those most commonly on sale in SA sell for almost nothing in the supermarkets in Japan, and the “gommis”, or household rubbish dumps, are stacked high with unwanted television sets, often still in perfectly good working order. Companies selling liquid crystal display components are sought-after stocks in Asia.
The thing is that if you’re a television watcher, once you see the difference in the picture of a high-definition liquid crystal display television, combined with the broadcast of high-definition digital programming, and you can afford it, you’ll throw your analogue television set out of the window the very next day.
M-Net and SuperSport, with its solid, paying, subscriber base, are in a good position to pilot the new technology in SA. Johncom’s other assets are mature, and while its newspapers will continue to sell and make profit, they in no way offer any of the upside potential that could have been gained from the rollout of high- definition liquid crystal display televisions in the country.
Johncom’s shareholders have acted in their own best interests, and this is their right, but not necessarily in the interests of Johncom. Although they will have little voting power and control from the Naspers N shares they have received, they will share in the profits that Naspers is going to make in future. But they have robbed Johncom of some much needed blue sky, and they will pay for this later.
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