I have, on more than one occasion, had colleagues chastise me for sending them a funny joke or story via e-mail, which has led them to come close to ruining their keyboards by virtue of guffawing into their morning coffee.<\/p>\n
However, while I have had complaints sent in my direction, I have never suffered from the \u2018sticky keyboard\u2019 syndrome myself, as I seldom find anything that funny \u2013 well at least not early in the morning, at any rate.<\/p>\n
That said, I read something this week that had my colleagues considering calling the paramedics, such was my state of incapacitation.<\/p>\n
No, it wasn\u2019t the latest joke poking fun at the plight of the Wallabies and All Blacks (although there have been some fantastic ones), nor was it the latest ridiculous antics of tabloid toppers like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan.<\/p>\n
It was the news that the company that has spent as long as can remember bullying, cajoling and fighting to retain its monopoly now wants there to be fair play in the broadcasting arena.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
Big, bad Telkom has claimed – now that Telkom Media (amongst others) has been awarded a pay television licence \u2013 that it believes that there \u2018needs to be proper intervention from the Regulator and the Competition Commission to ensure a level playing field\u2019.<\/p>\n
Now there is no doubt that Multichoice has had sole dominion over the pay-TV market for around 20 years (coincidentally, the length Telkom Media demanded the licences awarded by ICASA should be, in order to give them time to \u2018put their stamp on the market\u2019).<\/p>\n
There is also no doubt that no one (with the possible exception of Telkom itself, until recently) likes a monopoly of any kind, since this allows the company with such control pretty much carte blanche to do as it pleases in terms of both programming and pricing.<\/p>\n
But I do find it enormously ironic that the one company that has been accused of monopolistic practices more often than any other (admittedly, sometimes even slightly unfairly) is now crying for the powers-that-be to provide it with some parity in the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to see the market aligned with international best practices, which we do not believe is the current situation,\u201d Telkom Media\u2019s CEO, Mandla Ngcobo, was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Would that be the in the same way that our telecoms market is aligned with international best practices?<\/p>\n
And is there anyone out there who has ever had to deal with the local telecoms monolith and its terrifyingly bad service that has even one iota of sympathy for it?<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, despite Telkom Media\u2019s pleas to the authorities for a level playing field, Multichoice is not going to relinquish its iron-tight grip on the local pay-TV market without a fight.<\/p>\n
Multichoice CEO Nolo Letele has stated that exclusivity of content is vital in the pay-TV business and that his company will fight hard to secure such exclusivity; pointing out that he does not foresee those content contracts that are already in place being cut short by the regulator.<\/p>\n
So it seems that Telkom Media may whine like an annoying mosquito, but it is going to have to fight harder than most anyone in that organisation has any experience of, just to try and claim a semblance of market share in an environment already dominated by an incumbent monolith.<\/p>\n
And while I have always loathed bullies, I do find it incredibly amusing when the schoolyard bully discovers that there is always another bully out there who is bigger than them\u2026<\/p>\n