Broadcasting14.03.2022

Goodbye TV licence — These big screen monitors can replace your TV

There are several smart displays and monitors you can buy in South Africa that offer a big-screen viewing experience without needing a TV licence.

With the increasing popularity of streaming services like Netflix, Showmax, and Prime Video in South Africa, and Disney+ expected to launch later this year, fewer people need traditional TVs with built-in channel tuners.

The presence of this built-in tuning hardware determines whether a display is classified as a television set and requires a TV licence to buy.

However, many big-screen monitors still offer features such as Wi-Fi connectivity and built-in speakers.

Such screens tend to be more expensive than TVs of similar sizes. One possible explanation for the price difference is that monitors often use a different type of LCD panel than the typical TV.

The models in this comparison offer full HD or 4K resolution, and only sizes above 30-inches were considered as big-screen monitors.

Mecer offers a selection of big-screen monitors, ranging from 43 to 75 inches in size.

The largest monitor listed — the Mecer 75-inch Smart LED Panel — goes for R15,830 and features a 4K resolution, two built-in 8W speakers, 1.5GB of RAM, and three HDMI ports.

Mecer’s most affordable big-screen monitor is the 43-inch LED Panel, which is available for R5,235.

The most expensive monitor listed is Dell’s Alienware 55-inch OLED Gaming Monitor, selling for R42,899.

It features a 4K resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate, AMD Free-Sync, and three HDMI ports.

It’s worth noting that while South Africa’s current TV licence regime is based on whether a screen has a tuning device attached (including satellite decoders), the SABC and others have proposed that TV licences be replaced with a “public media levy”.

If successful, this would switch annual SABC’s TV licences for a device-independent, technology-neutral household levy for public broadcasting. It would be based on whether you can access the public broadcaster’s content on any platform — broadcast or streaming — regardless of whether you watch it.

Below is a selection of monitors with large displays you can buy without a TV licence.