{"id":443710,"date":"2022-05-09T10:17:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T08:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=443710"},"modified":"2022-05-29T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T12:00:18","slug":"dstv-monopoly-inquiry-rebooted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/443710-dstv-monopoly-inquiry-rebooted.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv monopoly inquiry rebooted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has announced that it will relaunch consultations for its inquiry into the Subscription Broadcasting Services Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon considering the draft findings emanating from the Inquiry \u2014 [Icasa] is of the view that further consultation and engagement with stakeholders is required,\u201d said Icasa chairperson Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny regulatory intervention in this market ought to take account of current policy developments, as well as recent technological and market trends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>This includes the entry of complementary and competitive services introduced by over-the-top players like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n<p>Icasa launched the inquiry in 2016 and published its findings in April 2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/302988-how-icasa-plans-to-break-dstvs-monopoly-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>It concluded that MultiChoice has a dominant position<\/strong><\/a> in South Africa\u2019s subscription broadcasting market and proposed several remedies. This included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Unbundling sports rights<\/li>\n<li>Splitting content rights with more than one broadcaster<\/li>\n<li>Limiting the number of Hollywood studios a broadcaster may have exclusive agreements with<\/li>\n<li>Decoder interoperability with multiple satellite services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MultiChoice baulked at the proposed regulations and <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/307888-dstv-will-go-out-of-business-if-changes-made.html\"><strong>took legal action against Icasa<\/strong><\/a> over having to give up its major competitive edge \u2014 sports rights.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/385414-netflix-can-kill-dstv-warns-multichoice.html\"><strong>MultiChoice told Icasa that it faces an existential threat<\/strong><\/a> from major international streaming providers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe consider providers like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, HBO Now, and Peacock to be an existential competitive threat,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n<p>Icasa appears to have taken MultiChoice\u2019s submission to heart and said it would reset its subscription TV market inquiry.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_395445\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Keabetswe-Modimoeng.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-395445\" class=\"size-full wp-image-395445\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Keabetswe-Modimoeng.jpg\" alt=\"Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, ICASA Executive Chair\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Keabetswe-Modimoeng.jpg 640w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Keabetswe-Modimoeng-595x400.jpg 595w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Keabetswe-Modimoeng-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-395445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keabetswe Modimoeng, ICASA Executive Chair<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe rebooting of this process is meant to enable the Authority to take account of all relevant and current developments to inform a robust, forward-looking regulatory intervention that balances interests of consumers and stability of the broadcasting services market,\u201d Modimoeng said.<\/p>\n<p>Icasa said that, among other things, it must consider matters such as the non-transitory (structural, legal, and regulatory) barriers to entry, and the dynamic character and functioning of the markets or market segments.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator said it is mindful that any regulation must enhance future competitiveness in the market.<\/p>\n<p>Its extended consultation will include the publication of a questionnaire to solicit comments and information from interested stakeholders, taking into account work from the 2021\u201322 financial year Inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>Icasa will conduct a full inquiry that includes publishing an updated discussion document and public hearings.<\/p>\n<p>From this, it will come to a conclusive determination of the subscription TV market dynamics, the regulator said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/443338-disney-reveals-movies-and-shows-coming-to-south-africa.html\">Disney+ reveals movies and shows coming to South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Icasa has announced that it will undertake a fresh inquiry into South Africa&#8217;s subscription TV space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":440410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[39088,61855,85,167,29286,35,18090,36458,475,2054,2150],"class_list":["post-443710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-disney-plus","tag-dstv","tag-google","tag-hbo-now","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-keabetswe-modimoeng","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443712,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443710\/revisions\/443712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}