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No. 37261
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24 JANUARY 2014
and gaming devices) will, in addition, make it possible for South Africans to access a variety
of international and South African audio-visual and audio content over the internet.
This will not only affect audiences - but will undoubtedly impact on the viability of traditional
broadcasters and therefore affect their capacity to fulfil obligations placed on them to, for
example, air a wide range of South African content in all languages and ensure access to
services by people with disabilities (by sign-language, sub-titling and audio description for
example). New content providers will also not be bound by current broadcasting codes and
standards aimed at protecting audiences and children in particular, from harmful content.
New services, not bound by regulations or licence conditions, will be competing with
traditional broadcasters for audiences, content and revenue.
8.2.2 Defining "broadcasting"
The ECA, in line with the White Paper, includes a technology neutral definition of
broadcasting. The regulator noted that in the future, on demand services, including those
available over the public internet, "may be a substitute for traditional television broadcasting"
and therefore require some form of regulation but stated that this would require a legislative
amendment to permit the regulation of content services (distinct from broadcasting services)
under certain circumstances.
In the UK, the Communications Act defines the different services essentially by the delivery
platform used. The regulator in that country (the Office of Communications - Ofcom) has, in
line with this, outlined specific obligations and requirements for the different licence
categories. For example, television services using the DTT platform have to have either
Digital Television Programme Service or Digital Television Additional Service licences, while
those that provide television programmes or electronic programme guides (EPGs) over other
platforms (eg satellite, cable, the internet or mobile platforms) require Television Licensable
Content Services licences (TLCS).
One of the issues that this policy review process has to consider is the approach to
broadcasting-like services delivered over the internet. The migration to digital terrestrial
television (DTT) will, on the one hand, give audiences access to a greater number of
television and audio channels, while freeing up frequencies that will be used to increase high
speed broadband access. Licensed multi-channel television broadcasters will therefore not
only face increased competition for audiences, revenue and content from new services on
DTT platforms, but also increasingly compete with internet based audio-visual content
providers. While some of these new services might be South African based and focused,
others will originate from other countries and be targeting a global rather than South African
specific audience.
In terms of current legislation in South Africa, content services such as Video-On-Demand
will not require a broadcasting licence or therefore be bound by the particular obligations for
broadcasters.
8.3 Regulatory Parity
A number of submissions to the Framing Paper proposed that the principle of regulatory
parity should inform a new approach to policies for broadcasting and audio and audio-visual
content. Regulatory parity is based on principles of fair competition and technological
neutrality and aims to ensure that like services are treated in a similar manner, regardless of
how they are delivered (whether, for example, via satellite, transmitters, over the internet) or
what device is used to access them (for example, a radio set, the internet, a mobile phone, a
television, a computer).
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