While the South African government has been pushing the advantages of digital terrestrial television (DTT) to consumers, communications regulator ICASA’s public hearings on digital migration have revealed concerns that the launching of multiple digital channels will see the market oversubscribed.
With so much new air time to choose from, advertisers may migrate from existing channels, namely e.tv’s single channel, SABC’s three channels and M-Net’s three pay-TV channels, to the glut of new channels that will result from the commercial launch of DTT in the second half of next year. And this in an economic environment where adspend is already declining.
According to ICASA’s draft regulations, when DTT is a reality, e.tv will have two channels and M-Net four, while the SABC would have five channels for public service broadcasting, two for commercial services and another for community broadcasting.
At the hearing ICASA was urged to conduct a review of broadcasting policy before allocating any new channels. (Source: The Weekender)
