DStv competitors give feedback
Despite numerous false starts in 2009, South Africa pay-TV looks likely to see competition entering the market in 2010.
In 2007 four prospective broadcasters were issued with pay-TV licences by the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA), namely E-Sat, ODM, Walking on Water and Telkom Media.
It has been a slow start for DStv competitors with not much happening but the remaining prospective broadcasters have assured interested consumers that operations will begin in 2010, citing ICASA’s slow licensing process as one of the major difficulties which has in turn pushed back delivery dates.
Below is an investigation into each provider and their current status within the market.
e-Sat
E-Sat is the only pay-TV provider to withdraw its application to broadcast. In late 2007 the company signed a deal with MultiChoice to supply channels to the provider rather than compete with it. In doing so the company forfeited its broadcasting licence.
But that’s not say they haven’t done anything. E-Sat launched a 24 hour eNews channel via DStv which has enjoyed positive viewer reception.
On Digital Media
Thus far On Digital Media (ODM) arguably appears to be the most viable competitor to MultiChoice within the pay-TV sphere.
With reported funding of over R1-billion the company initially hoped to begin offering a choice-based package, where subscribers would select the channels they wished to view for between R149 and R359 per month, in mid 2008.
The broadcaster has since been forced to push its launch date back several times. In September Vino Govender, CEO for ODM, told MyBroadband that the company had been forced to delay its projected date to the first quarter of 2010. This was attributed to a “major setback in the issuance of [the company’s uplink licence” from ICASA; as a result ODM “lost about four months due to the delay”.
At the time of publication ODM could not confirm if it had received the licence, having not responded to requests for further information.
Despite this Govender has acknowledged in the past that ODM has secured a number of channels and still intends to introduce significant competition to MultiChoice in the future.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water (WoW) has distinguished itself from the other prospective pay-TV operators in that it plans to implement a family friendly service which will not include programming that features nudity, sex, violence or coarse language.
Despite this Luyanda Mangquku, Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of WoW stressed that the broadcaster is not religious but instead aims to provide family orientated entertainment.
Currently WoW is entering its testing phase in which it will broadcast to 100 households across South Africa in order to “debug the system”. Although ICASA has issued a test licence the company is still waiting for its final uplink licence to be approved. If all goes according to schedule the company will move directly from its testing phase to public broadcast added Mangquku.
Initially the service will offer between three and five channels upon commercial launch, depending on the company’s ability to secure channels which meet its content requirements.
Subscribers will require a separate WoW TV decoder and dish to receive the service, although no confirmation on which decoder models and what cost will be associated with this have yet been revealed.
Mangquku also added that WoW “will cater for subscribers who can afford HD broadcasts because it’s all produced in HD format from source. We will even be able to offer PVR boxes depending on what the subscribers want.”
Telkom Media
In March this year Telkom sold its 75% interest in Telkom Media to Shenzhen Media South Africa for a nominal amount. The company revealed that it wished to reduce its investment in this area to focus on other pursuits.
Telkom Media has since been renamed Super5 Media confirmed company representative Chris Van Zyl.
In order for the transaction to be approved, ICASA was informed of the sale and submitted a notice to other prospective pay-TV providers in order for comment to be lodged. According to Van Zyl ICASA received comments from ODM, to which Super5Media responded.
As it stands the company is “of the opinion that [it has] complied with all regulations in terms of the transaction and therefore have a licence to broadcast. The company remains committed to fulfilling ICASA’s Invitation to Apply (ITA) for commercial satellite and cable subscription broadcasting services.”
“The company plans to launch services in the first half of 2010. More details regarding the services to be launched…will be announced shortly,” said Van Zyl.
It looks likely that the pay-TV market will begin to see competition in early 2010. Whether this will make an impact on MutliChoice’s dominance within the market remains to be seen.
Despite this MultiChoice “welcomes competition within the pay-TV market” said a company representative, who added that this would have a positive impact on the industry and would encourage further investment.
DSTV and Pay-TV discussion
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