Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      The satellite broadband operators taking on Starlink

      9 July 2025

      Yaccarino out: Musk’s handpicked CEO quits X suddenly

      9 July 2025

      AI gold rush propels Nvidia to record $4-trillion market cap

      9 July 2025
    • World

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025

      Jony Ive’s first AI gadget could be … a pen

      30 June 2025

      Bumper orders for Xiaomi’s YU7 SUV heighten threat to Tesla

      27 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on data governance in hybrid cloud environments

      27 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Duncan McLeod » The revolution will be televised

    The revolution will be televised

    By Duncan McLeod26 October 2014
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Duncan-McLeod-180-profileDriven by the rise of broadband, the era of linear television broadcasting will draw to a rapid close in the next decade. New media empires will be built on the back of this change. Established broadcasters that don’t adapt will crumble. A revolution is at hand — a revolution that is going to be televised.

    Broadcasting is going to be transformed fundamentally in the next 10 years. Consumers will have access to a wide array of on-demand content that they’ll watch when they want and where they want. It will upend and sometimes break traditional broadcasters’ business models.

    In South Africa, even with its broadband challenges, on-demand television, delivered over the Internet, will change the broadcasting industry more fundamentally than moves by communications regulator Icasa to license new terrestrial and satellite free-to-air and subscription broadcasters.

    You can bet that MultiChoice, which dominates South Africa’s pay-TV landscape, is much more worried about the threat of the Internet — and companies with names like Netflix and Hulu — than it is about StarSat or any of the companies recently granted pay-TV licences by the regulator. Content providers that use the Internet to deliver their services don’t have to wait months or years and endure a public grilling to be licensed. Heck, they don’t need broadcast licences.

    We’re already seeing the first attempts by South African media companies to take advantage of broadband to deliver these on-demand services. Times Media Group has entered the race with Vidi. Its catalogue is fairly narrow for now, but that should change. And although the Node from technology group Altech is not a broadband-based on-demand solution — it pushes content over satellite to a decoder for later viewing — it provides clues as to where the industry is going.

    MultiChoice isn’t standing still. It is acutely aware of how broadband is going to transform its industry.

    DStv Digital Media CEO John Kotsaftis eats, sleeps and breathes this on-demand future. Among many other online projects, he’s involved in one to open a data pipe on MultiChoice’s top-end decoder, the Explora, paving the way for consumers to be able to watch video-on-demand (VOD) services via the Internet.

    Already, Explora users have access to offline on-demand services called Catch Up and BoxOffice. Similar to Altech’s Node, this content is pushed to the device via satellite, simulating an on-demand environment. The problem is that the catalogue of content is severely limited by the capacity of the hard drive in the decoder. Delivering this content from a data centre eliminates that problem.

    So, from the middle of next month, Explora owners will be able to buy a Wi-Fi device — the DStv WiFi Connector — that they plug into the Ethernet port on their decoders. This will provide Internet access via users’ home broadband networks. Those who have wired their homes with Ethernet — a project well worth doing, by the way, to prepare not only for the on-demand future but also for the advent of smart home technologies — won’t need the connector.

    Apple Mac Mini, top, and Intel NUC
    The Apple Mac Mini, top, and the Intel NUC open a world of entertainment possibilities

    At launch, consumers will be able to store up to 25 VOD titles downloaded from the Internet, but the number of titles available in the cloud will be far larger. They won’t be able to stream the content for now — instead having to download content fully before viewing it — but MultiChoice’s plan is to offer streaming from the second quarter of 2015.

    It hopes that by opening its decoder in this way it will push back the advance of VOD competitors. It will help. But a growing number of consumers are discovering that a broadband-connected PC makes more sense as the centrepiece technology in the living room than a proprietary box.

    Indeed, as more VOD service providers enter the market — and as consumers discover it’s technically fairly trivial to get access to international services like Netflix — it makes sense to invest in some sort of Internet-connected PC that can be hooked up to a big-screen TV.

    A Windows-powered Intel NUC ultracompact PC or an Apple Mac Mini with wireless keyboard and mouse are both good solutions. Both offer consumers access to a wide range of services with no vendor lock-in.

    • Duncan McLeod is founder and editor of TechCentral. Find him on Twitter
    • This column was first published in the Sunday Times


    Altech Altech Node DStv DStv Digital Media Duncan McLeod Hulu John Kotsaftis MultiChoice Netflix StarSat Times Media Times Media Group Vidi
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleShake-up at DOC
    Next Article Turn the tables on Big Brother with Tor

    Related Posts

    Apple is said to be eyeing Formula 1 broadcast rights

    9 July 2025

    Icasa publishes new draft regulations for digital TV

    8 July 2025

    MultiChoice hit with multimillion-rand fine for privacy ‘breaches’

    8 July 2025
    Company News

    Samsung unfolds the future with thinnest, lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet

    9 July 2025

    Huawei supercharges South African SMEs with over 20 new eKit products

    9 July 2025

    Webtonic cracks the talent code with AWS-powered TonicHub

    9 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.