Browsing: Karen Willenberg

It all started in the late noughties, I think around 2006 or 2007, when the former communications minister, the late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri – a former chairwoman of the SABC – declared that South Africa would complete

The road to digital migration in local television is paved with good ­intentions, vested ­interests, legal disputes and delays. In 2006, South Africa told the International Telecommunication Union it would switch from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2015 and the first digital migration policy

The fight for what SA consumers’ television future will look like is hotting up. The broadcasting regulator’s new draft regulations for digital ­terrestrial television, the migration to which is already years behind schedule, came under fire this week at public hearings and could result in further delays. Nigeria, Namibia

MultiChoice subsidiary M-Net wants access to more radio frequency spectrum than it has provisionally been allocated in the draft digital terrestrial television (DTT) regulations, it said at Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) hearings on

In recent weeks, it’s been almost impossible not to miss M-Net’s criticism of everything that makes for SA’s broadcast digital migration programme, writes Muzi Makhaye. M-Net’s calls for a cheap “converter box” to replace set-top boxes in the migration are as absurd as

M-Net has hit back at competitor e.tv over allegations by the free-to-air broadcaster that the pay-TV operator is acting out of self-interest in proposing that SA adopts cheaper digital converters rather than more expensive set-top boxes in the migration to digital

Free-to-air broadcaster e.tv has slammed M-Net for suggesting last week that the country would be better off scrapping plans to build set-top boxes for digital terrestrial television, saying the pay-TV operator is acting out of self-interest only. M-Net’s director for legal

M-Net believes SA would be far better off scrapping plans to build pricey set-top boxes for digital terrestrial television and instead should use the money in other ways. Karen Willenberg, the broadcaster’s director of legal and regulatory affairs, says instead the country should

Communications minister Roy Padayachie has withdrawn the controversial Public Service Broadcasting Bill pending further consultation, and wants to consider new models for funding the SABC and community media.