ICASA published amendments to the so-called “must-carry” regulations on Thursday, in which it reiterated that satellite broadcasters (or at least those that offer more than 29 channels) must carry the television programmes of the public broadcasting service.
Until now, the regulations have allowed MultiChoice and other pay-TV operators to carry the SABC public service channels at no cost. Under the amended regulations, the parties will have to negotiate a contract deemed fair to both parties.
Since last year, MultiChoice (through SuperSport) held free-to-air rights for PSL broadcasting them exclusively on their platforms through the SABC channels while other outlets that carried these brands got a different game playing on the same channel.
Although the public broadcaster is celebrating their success a little too soon, every agreement has a loophole and it won't be long till MultiChoice finds that dark hole and buries them.
The public broadcaster is probably hoping MultiChoice will pay them based on production costs and all other expenses when the truth is they'll likely look at the costs to distribute each station besides that the quality differs from Mzansi Magic.
This new regulation although granting SABC more revenue could increase the amount of exclusivity/management on their channels not only targeting sports but other aspects of the public broadcaster including general entertainment and news.
Instead of taking away Uzalo, what if this new deal grows the number of SABC channels instead in the process.
What if MultiChoice decided to distribute a seperate feed of the SABC Sport channel which didn't disrupt the lineup of the 3 SABC channels and broadcast games restricted from platforms like TelkomOne and Openview.
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