{"id":628644,"date":"2026-02-11T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=628644"},"modified":"2026-02-11T13:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:01:37","slug":"netflix-decimated-the-sabc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/628644-netflix-decimated-the-sabc.html","title":{"rendered":"Netflix decimated the SABC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies chair, Khusela Diko, says the “Netflixes” of this world have decimated the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to PowerFM<\/a>, Diko discussed what must be done to get South Africa’s communications policies back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m hoping that we can nudge, cajole, oversee Minister Malatsi to death until he understands that he needs to, from a national government level, define that national digital policy,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained that regulations in the communications space are extremely outdated, describing them as being designed for a country that no longer exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You just need to look at the Electronic Communications Act. It doesn’t even speak about online broadcasting. That’s why we have so many loopholes,” said Diko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How do you enforce regulation, for example, on podcasts. How do you treat the issue of streaming services, your Netflixes of this world that have basically decimated the SABC in terms of advertising?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t the first time Diko has voiced that large streaming services like Netflix have contributed to the SABC’s downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portfolio Committee chair has been vocal about the detrimental effects these platforms have on the local industry for some time now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2025, she called for the urgent publication of a white paper on audio and audiovisual media services to mitigate the impact of streaming services on local broadcasters such as the SABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement following the Competition Commission’s provisional report on media and digital platforms, Diko said the Commission’s recommendations strengthened her committee’s call for the publication of the white paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For a very long time, over-the-top (OTT) digital platforms exploited the regulatory gap in the sector to the detriment of the public broadcaster, the SABC, which operates under stringent regulations,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the recommendations from the Competition Commission was that media houses be remunerated for content they produce that gets exploited by OTTs and digital platforms, which Diko welcomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diko said the White Paper is a prelude to the development of a bill, and is meant to update South Africa’s broadcasting legislation to account for changes brought about by digital technology enhancements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communications minister Solly Malatsi published the draft White Paper on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and Online Safety on 10 July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister gave the public 30 calendar days to make their submissions. While the comment period ended on 10 July 2025, the White Paper is still in draft phase as of early 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix levy to save the SABC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In March 2025, Malatsi said he would consider imposing a levy on local and international streaming services as an alternative source of funding for the SABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister said TV licence holders would be exempt from the levy, and his spokesperson, Kwena Moloto, told MyBroadband that the levy was one of several alternative funding sources being explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Department is exploring several funding models, none of which have been adopted as a proposal at this stage,” Moloto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2025, Sportscape Media founder and director Gary Rathbone voiced his support for a levy on international streaming services to help fund the SABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that players like MultiChoice, the SABC, and E-tv are restricted in their ability to operate in the local broadcasting space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whether it’s MultiChoice, the SABC, or E-tv, they have restrictions that we place on them because they’re South African broadcasters, and they have dues to pay to the South African public to be able to operate,” Rathbone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Netflix and the like don’t have those restrictions. So they need to have some kind of thing to level the playing field, and I think the levy is definitely the only way to go.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also highlighted that part of the reason for the SABC’s dismal financial situation is that it failed to leverage its audience numbers to maximise advertising revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are a major broadcaster with the biggest audience in the country, yet they still sort of consistently failed to actually drive the advertising revenues that line up with those numbers,” Rathbone said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He highlighted that DStv’s owner, MultiChoice, managed to grab the lion’s share of advertising with far smaller audience numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, Rathbone believes the SABC should set its focus on its streaming platform, SABC Plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There was talk about them saying they need to get their own set-top boxes and create a competitor to OpenView or something like that,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No, you’ve got the most future-proof option in your hand right now, which is SABC Plus.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rathbone added that the public broadcaster should focus every available resource on driving advertising, audio reach, and retention on its streaming platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s where the focus should be because that’s where the audiences are moving,” he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies chair, Khusela Diko, says the “Netflixes” of this world have decimated the SABC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":624620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[97352,2054,96893,76862,19949,52823,103262],"class_list":["post-628644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-khusela-diko","tag-netflix","tag-portfolio-committee-on-communications-and-digital-technologies","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-south-african-broadcasting-corporation-sabc","tag-streaming-services","tag-white-paper-on-audio-and-audiovisual-media-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628644"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628644"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628736,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628644\/revisions\/628736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}