New Bill propose abolishment of  TV licenses

The Department of Communications has submitted a draft bill to do away with TV licenses and change how public broadcasting is funded in South Africa. Earlier in 2009, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda announced that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had gathered close to R1 billion in television license fees in 2008.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, Nyanda revealed that the national broadcaster had attracted 644 253 new licensed viewers during the 2008/09 financial year. "Television license collections for the 2008/09 financial year (1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009) amounted to R972 million."

In terms of the Broadcasting Act, television license revenue had to be used solely to fund the SABC's Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) mandate. "With regard to television broadcasting, income derived from license fees is allocated to the SABC's two PSB channels, namely SABC1 and SABC2. "Television license revenue also assists in funding the corporation's 15 PSB radio stations," Nyanda said.

SABC Spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago said the SABC's management had taken note of the newly published Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) Bill, and its proposals on the abolition of television licenses.
 
"The bill is currently a discussion document which still has to go through a public consultation process and various legislative processes before it becomes law”, he said.Kganyago added that the payment of TV license fees remained in force.
 
Meanwhile Nyanda confirmed that the PSB Bill was intended to replace the Broadcasting Act of 1999. His department is amending and renaming the act to bring it in line with international standards. He said a strategy would be formulated to secure the SABC's revenue stream from other sources.
 
"The department will introduce an appropriate funding model to ensure the public broadcaster is not left to the vagaries of the markets. The amendment will ensure that the public broadcaster is best suited to our young democracy”, he said.
 
The draft bill is intended to align the broadcasting system with the country's developmental goals. The wide-ranging bill provides, among other things, for the establishment of a Public Service Broadcasting Fund to provide revenue for public service broadcasting. It further provides for an international broadcasting services division within the SABC, the revision of the composition of the corporation's board, and a performance management system for the board.

It also outlines the mandate of the signal distribution company Sentech, as the common carrier. The bill also provides for charters for the SABC and community broadcasting services. Nyanda said the bill would prioritize particular categories within public broadcasting through the licensing of specialist channels for children's programming, wildlife and documentaries.

Members of the public have been urged to go to www.doc.gov.za <http://www.doc.gov.za>  to comment on the bill before the 7 December 2009 deadline.
Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
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Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
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