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Netflix and other international streaming services will likely have to cut their libraries to meet new local content quotas planned by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, according to a City Press report.
The department recently released a streaming whitepaper announcing plans to impose a 30% local content quota on video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV +, and Showmax.
“The spirit behind this whitepaper is to secure a future for South Africa’s broadcasting sector,” said the department’s chief director of broadcasting policy, Collin Mashile. said recently.
While Netflix features more than 40 South African movies and 20 dramas and series, the department’s argument is that this is very small compared to its wide range of international movies and series, which number in the thousands.
However, adding South African productions would take time and be an exceptionally costly exercise for these companies, which meant that reducing their international supply would be the only option, City Press said.
By reducing its number of international shows and movies, Netflix, for example, could meet the local content quota without having to produce more South African shows.
The department’s spokesman, Mish Molakeng, told City Press that broadcast services that cannot meet the quota would not be punished initially, but that they did not expect resistance from companies.
“They meet these kinds of requirements in other countries and we think they will also do so in South Africa. If there are challenges, they can commit to ICASA. Our approach is one of cooperation and understanding, ”Molakeng said.
A spokesperson for MultiChoice, the owner of Showmax, told City Press that its 59,000 hours of local material on DStv and its other platforms already exceeded the proposed minimum requirement.
TV license fee for streaming
The government also plans to extend the payment of television license fees to include streaming services by expanding the definition of a “streaming service” to include online offerings.
If this proposal is approved, it means that people will need a TV license to watch streaming services.
This is part of an attempt to increase revenue and TV license compliance, which has come under pressure in recent years.
SABC’s annual report for the 2019/2020 financial year revealed that less than a quarter of television licenses were paid during this period.
The broadcaster said television licensing revenue fell 18% year-on-year to R791 million, adding to the company’s financial woes.
Television journalist and analyst Thinus Ferreira, who runs the South African television news website. TV with Thinus, previously told MyBroadband that this plan was “crazy” and “parasitic”.
“If SABC cannot profitably and practically charge SABC’s TV license fees, it is pathetic to want to impose that burden on the subscriber management systems of private commercial companies,” Ferreira said.
“SABC is unwilling or unable to do the real or proper hard work and wants to shift the burden of its own incompetence to places that manage interaction with their customers well and know who they are,” he said.
Now Read: Dishless DStv – How It Stacks Up To Netflix
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