The high court in Pretoria has dealt a huge blow to free-to-air broadcaster e.tv, stating amendments to South Africa’s broadcasting digital migration policy, gazetted in March, will remain in force.
“The court has affirmed the amendments to the broadcasting digital migration policy that was gazetted on 18 March were in the best interest of the public,” communications minister Faith Muthambi said on Thursday.
“The ruling by the north Gauteng high court will now allow the digital migration process to progress and be concluded as soon as possible so that the benefits can be realised,” the minister said.
E.tv spokesman Vasili Vass confirmed that the broadcaster had lost the case, but said it hadn’t yet had a chance to study the judgment and could not say whether it intended seeking leave to appeal.
The judgment is a significant victory for both Muthambi and for DStv parent MultiChoice, which is vehemently opposed to government providing subsidised set-top boxes that use an encryption-based conditional access system. The pay-TV broadcaster has argued, among things, that doing so would amount to unfair competition.
E.tv, on the other hand, is strongly in favour of the use of such a system in the set-top boxes, arguing that it is needed to prevent the “ghettoisation” of free-to-air television in South Africa.
It has argued previously that encryption is necessary to ensure free-to-air broadcasters can get access to the latest and best international content.
Muthambi’s decision not to require encryption in the set-top boxes was a reversal of an earlier cabinet decision.
At the time that e.tv brought the legal action against Muthambi, its chief operating officer, Mark Rosin, said: “E.tv considers it essential that it be able to encrypt its broadcast signal primarily because this would prevent non-compliant set-top boxes from receiving digital broadcast signals, thereby ensuring a uniform and reliable viewer experience. Without a fully conformant platform, broadcasters such as e.tv would in the future likely be unable to provide broadcasts in high definition.”
MultiChoice welcomed the high court judgment. “This is good news for South Africa. We can now start the journey of migrating from analogue to digital, with all the benefits that digital migration will bring,” it said. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media