The “last mile” fixed-line infrastructure into people homes in South Africa is “awful” and is holding back competition in South Africa’s television broadcasting industry by preventing Internet protocol television and video-on-demand players from launching services
Browsing: MultiChoice
Two weeks ago, Icasa provisionally awarded licences to five new subscription television broadcasters. It hopes the move will help crack open what has become a highly concentrated market that is now thoroughly dominated by one operator, MultiChoice. The communications regulator will be hoping that it is more successful in this
In the days following this week’s general election – the most interesting since 1994 – the focus will shift to who president Jacob Zuma will name to his new cabinet. Whatever shuffling he decides to do, he should leave the communications portfolio in the hands
As South Africa inches slowly towards migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial television, communications regulator Icasa has provisionally granted licences to five new pay-TV operators following an exhaustive hearings process that took place in 2013. The companies and consortia that have bid for the licences
A new South African video-on-demand player, Discover Digital, plans to give broadcasters a run for their money by launching both subscription-based and transactional video-on-demand services, as well as content kiosks, aimed at a broad spectrum of consumers. The company says it has developed the infrastructure required to launch its service
MultiChoice has criticised communications regulator Icasa over its decision to ask the Competition Commission to probe a “possible restrictive horizontal practice” between it and the SABC over the supply by the public broadcaster of a 24-hour news channel
Communications regulator Icasa has asked the Competition Commission to probe what it’s calling a “possible restrictive horizontal practice” between the SABC and MultiChoice over the supply by the public broadcaster to the pay-television operator of a 24-hour news channel. TechCentral revealed last year that the agreement contains an obligation
Two crucial constituencies have been ignored in communications minister Yunus Carrim’s rather ill-tempered response over the past few weeks to questions about his policy on the digital migration of South African television services. Instead of acknowledging the many deficiencies in the option being pursued by government
Long-term MultiChoice and Naspers executive Eben Greyling is stepping down to “take a break” and to “pursue new interests”. Greyling had been with Naspers for more than 18 years in various roles. He leaves with immediate effect, with Jim Volkwyn, the previous head of the group’s pay-television segment, taking the reins from
The small black box at the heart of the move from analogue to digital is about South Africans’ freedom, which communications minister Yunus Carrim’s decision will either narrow or enlarge. This is unfortunate since technology and markets function