Communications minister Faith Muthambi said in parliament on Friday that indigident households wanting a free, government-subsidised set-top box to receive digital terrestrial television will no longer have to prove that they possess an SABC television licence.
Until now, government has insisted that those wanting a free set-top box — the state is providing more than 5m free boxes to poorer households — must also show that they have a valid TV licence.
But Muthambi, arguably conceding the inevitable if the digital migration project is to go ahead, said that government has “resolved to de-link the TV licence requirement from the set-top box subsidy registration process”.
We have in the recent past noticed a slow registration take-up due to the TV licence requirement and insufficient funding to connect the public and [for the] consumer awareness campaign,” she told parliament.
A properly funded public awareness campaign is crucial to a successful digital migration programme, Muthambi said.
However, the minister made a “clarion call” on South Africans to pay their TV licences to “enable the SABC to discharge its public service mandate with ease”.
She added: “I have also instructed the SABC to clean up their TV licence base to have accurate and reliable information on who owns a television set in South Africa to enable proper infrastructure planning.” — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
