{"id":552454,"date":"2007-06-01T19:40:27","date_gmt":"2007-06-01T19:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/552454-third-pay-tv-application-slammed-over-funding-2.html"},"modified":"2007-06-01T19:40:27","modified_gmt":"2007-06-01T19:40:27","slug":"third-pay-tv-application-slammed-over-funding-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/552454-third-pay-tv-application-slammed-over-funding-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Third pay-TV application slammed over funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the implosion of submissions by Ndabenhle and Black Earth Communications during the public hearings in Sandton into the granting of the licences by Icasa on Wednesday and Thursday, on Friday it appeared that Max-TV also missed out on crucial requirements. <\/font><\/p>\n

Serious concerns about Max-TV’s submission were raised by fellow applicants On Digital Media, Khetha Media and E-Sat, referring to some of the same key mistakes made by Ndabenhle and Black Earth: lack of secured financial muscle to fund an undertaking of this kind, as well as inadequate market research.<\/font><\/p>\n

Max-TV plans to broadcast a mix of entertainment, information and education as well as family-oriented and traditional-values-based content. It proposes three packages to subscribers: silver, gold and platinum. The bundles would set back subscribers R99, R179 or R299 respectively per month — the more subscribers pay, the more channels and services they get.<\/font><\/p>\n

The main inconsistency in Max-TV\u2019s submission was that it couldn\u2019t provide its fellow candidates and the Icasa commissioners with the necessary clarity about the alleged funds provided by Absa Capital and MTN. <\/font><\/p>\n

It was again E-Sat\u2019s legal council Dan Rosengarten who bluntly stated that \u201cMax-TV\u2019s application was entirely premature\u201d after explaining E-Sat couldn\u2019t find any documents in Max-TV\u2019s submission proving secured financial backing by Absa Capital or MTN. \u201cAs far as we can see, both parties are not part of the process and we definitely need clarity in this matter,\u201d he said.<\/font><\/p>\n

After some ducking and diving, Max-TV said there is a \u201cprofound business relationship and interest from Absa Capital and MTN in Max-TV\u201d. However, it couldn\u2019t provide E-Sat with satisfactory proof.<\/font><\/p>\n

E-Sat replied that Max-TV placed a \u201cbid of hope\u201d and that for an undertaking of this kind, \u201csecured committed funding\u201d is absolutely essential. <\/font><\/p>\n

At the time of publishing, Telkom was presenting its submission to the commissioners — one submission that shouldn’t come with funding problems.<\/font><\/p>\n

Remaining applicants to be heard next week are Goal Technology Solutions, Q Digital Cable Vision, E-Sat, On Digital Media, Multichannel Television, Sentech, Multichoice Africa, African Spirit Trading 330, Quantic TV Network and Walking on Water Television.<\/font><\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n

Mail & Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It must have been deja vu for some of the commissioners and panel members of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Friday when they were once again confronted with a pay-TV licence applicant that didn\u2019t — to a large extent — do its homework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"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_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552454"}],"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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}