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e.tv is launching a streaming service.
Photo: Oleg Magni from Pexels
- SABC plans to launch a video-on-demand streaming service.
- SABC spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo said: “At this time, SABC is not in a position to provide further details.”
- The news comes after the broadcaster proposed to expand the definition of a TV license to include streaming services.
The South African public broadcaster plans to launch its own video-on-demand streaming service SABC in 2021.
SABC’s plan to roll out its own bespoke entertainment VOD streamer comes at the same time as the financially distressed broadcaster devises controversial plans and possible changes in legislation to try to force private pay-TV companies. and to video-on-demand subscription services payable to SABC. by collecting their customer databases to address the mandatory fees of the SABC TV License.
What it means is that the SABC and the government want to amend existing legislation so that the South African Broadcasting Corporation receives money from companies like DStv and Netflix South Africa at the same time that the SABC could be running its own video broadcast. Service.
READ MORE | SABC wants DStv, Netflix viewers and mobile users to pay a TV license fee
Only about a third of South African TV households pay their annual R265 SABC TV license fee with the beleaguered SABC which is owed billions of outstanding license fees.
In addition to the millions of viewers who have left SABC, a growing number of video viewers have moved to digital platforms where they do not watch or listen to any SABC content.
These digital content consumers watch YouTube or subscribe to and use pay-TV service offerings such as MultiChoice (DStv) and StarTimes of China (StarSat), as well as the flood of local and international companies offering low-cost video subscription services. lawsuit like Netflix. , Amazon Prime Video, Vodacom Video Play, Apple TV +, VIU, Showmax and others, using laptops, mobile devices and tablets.
The SABC and the country’s department of communications and digital technologies want to expand the definition of the existing SABC TV license so that consumers who, for example, are watching Netflix SA on a tablet, DStv on a laptop or StarSat via StarTimesON app on a cell phone, everyone has to pay for a SABC TV license even though they don’t use or consume SABC content.
With even more local and international SVOD services that could launch in South Africa in the future, such as Disney + or Star by The Walt Disney Company, Discovery Inc.’s Discovery +, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and others, a mandatory SABC TV license fee for subscribers. The monthly bill will mean a revenue boost of several million rand for the SABC cash-strapped Auckland Park kitty.
eMedia Investments, which runs South Africa’s free commercial e.tv channel and a collection of channels packed into e.tv on its free Openview satellite service, also plans to launch its own Openview Plus video streaming service soon. It is unclear whether e.tv would have to “help” collect TV license fees from SABC.
SABC streamer to imitate BBC iPlayer
While details about SABC’s planned video streaming service are still incomplete, the streaming service will mimic BBC iPlayer and will function in the same way as SABC’s recently launched SABC News app.
SABC currently provides some of its locally produced entertainment content on the MultiChoice DStv Catch Up service, licenses some series to VIU and places some of them on YouTube.
With its own “SABC iPlayer”, the public broadcaster will be able to bundle most of its own content on its own platform, where a limited volume of entertainment content will be freely accessible and with most of its library catalog and new entertainment content that will only be accessible after registering and logging in, for example by entering a valid SABC TV license number.
“The SABC can confirm that it plans to launch its video and audio streaming services in line with changing industry trends and consumer needs,” SABC spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo confirmed to Channel24 in response to a media inquiry. “At this stage, the SABC is not in a position to provide further details due to the commercial sensitivity of the information,” he said.
SABC says it plans to launch its own SABC video streamer in 2021, and said the broadcaster considers launching its own bespoke video streaming service to be crucial and necessary due to reasons including competitive advantage, responding to the needs of the industry, fulfill the role of being a content aggregator and being a platform operator.
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