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Explore the regulatory challenges of broadcasting in the digital age and the role of independent regulators like ICASA in promoting fairness and diversity. Learn about the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition's efforts to ensure free and fair broadcasting. Discover the impact of fiscal austerity on licensing, language diversity, and commercial broadcasting in South Africa.
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Regulating broadcasting in the digital age. What does this mean for our independent Regulator? Sparks Seminar27 February 2012 SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition
Overview of presentation • Who is the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition? • Regulatory challenges in the present analogue environment • Promises and challenges of the new digital environment • What needs to be done?
Who is the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition? • Coalition of three main groupings: • Unions (including Cosatu and SABC unions) • NGOs engaged in freedom of expression advocacy work – MMA and FXI • Organisations in the independent production sector - SASFED • Also, individuals committed to freedom of expression
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – Role of ICASA • The Independent Broadcasting Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is a central to our broadcasting landscape. • Its overall purpose is to regulate the broadcasting sector in the public interest to ensure fairness and diversity of views broadly representing SA society.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – broad tasks of ICASA • Broadly its tasks include the following: • awarding licenses and ensuring compliance of licensees • monitoring compliance by the SABC of its Charter • prescribing regulations • Ensuring broadcasters adhere to regulations to ensure free and fair coverage of elections. • making recommendations to the Minister of Comms about policy matters and proposed amendments to legislation
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment (1) – ICASA’s powerful history • ICASA transformed the broadcasting sector from one dominated by a single dominant apartheid state broadcaster - to a new three-tier broadcasting system. • It created new commercial and community tiers of broadcasting. • This was mainly through the issuing of new licenses. • Passing regulations such as local content and local production regulations to further embed diversity.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – fiscal austerity “kicks in” • From the late 1990s South Africa’s fiscal austerity measures take their toll. • IBA and SATRA merged – less capacity for broadcasting regulation • Budgets cut, ICASA rural offices closed • From the early 2000s the initial drive to license new stations slows and even when new licenses issued new stations never launched. • Examples on the public broadcasting front • Examples on the commercial subscription TV front
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – fiscal austerity and PBS • On the public broadcasting front – • Cost cutting drives at the SABC in the late 1990s result in serious casualties on the language front – particularly on TV. • The Department of Communications thus develops the Broadcasting Amendment Bill, 2002. Calls for the launch of two regional TV stations – south and north to ensure strong coverage of all South Africa’s official languages. • ICASA was asked to issue licenses but stations never launched. Lack of funds. • Language diversity impacted.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – commercial TV broadcasting • On the commercial TV broadcasting front – new comer - e.TV - successfully launches in 1998. First national private free-to-air channel. Only free-to-air channel. • On the subscription front – Multichoice secures its powerbase. Owns M-Net from apartheid days. Strengthens its position by launching Digital Satellite TV (DSTV) in 1995. • Despite moves to diversify ownership of subscription TV – Multichoice continues to dominate. • In 2007 ICASA awards 4 new broadcast licensees but only on Digital Media (Top TV) is actually launched. TopTV is struggling. • ICASA fails to do investigations into competition issues.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – commercial radio • On the commercial radio broadcasting front – there were sales of SABC radio stations and new licenses issued. • However still only 16 commercial radio stations on air including regional and city-wide stations. No national commercial radio station. Most stations broadcast in English. • Internationally SA lags behind in terms of number of commercial stations e.g. Ghana has 52 commercial channels.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – community radio and TV • And on the community broadcasting front…. • A whole tier of broadcasting has been created with the launch of approximately 100 new stations - but the sector suffers from funding and governance crises – particularly geographical stations. • Community TV
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – monitoring of licensing conditions etc. • On the monitoring of license conditions and local content… • There has been a lot of unhappiness on the front of the monitoring of licensing conditions. • Unhappiness on the side of community radio stations. • The independent producers have strongly documented their unhappiness about lack of monitoring of local content quotas on TV.
Regulatory challenges in the analogue environment – summary of issues • Public broadcasting sector dominated by the SABC. TV channels are not sufficiently diverse in terms of language. Channels not living up to their local content obligations; • A commercial radio broadcasting sector - not sufficient players, dominated by English • A commercial TV broadcasting sector dominated by e.TV and MultiChoice • A community broadcasting sector – not living up to expectations in terms of a rich diversity of content at the local level .
Promises and challenges of the digital environment – what is digital broadcasting? • SA on the brink of the digital multi-channel environment. • Impacts terrestrial TV not satellite. • Digital “switch on” – last quarter of 2012 • Short “dual illumination period”. Everyone must buy set top boxes otherwise cut off from TV when analogue signal “switched off”. • During the dual illumination period the present terresterial incumbents – e.TV, SABC, Mnet - will be given “digital incentive channels”. • Valuable radio frequency spectrum freed up after migration.
Promises and challenges of the digital environment - Promises • The promises include the following…. • Many more channels – incumbents – SABC, e.TV and M-Net - will be given a series of new channels. • With more channels SABC can potentially better fulfil its public service mandate – particularly its language mandate. • Possible new players being introduced even during the “dual illumination” period. • Better picture quality. • Better coverage of languages. • Interactive services – e.government services. • Freeing up the digital dividend – more players, more content
Promises and challenges of the digital environment - challenges • However also massive challenges…. • The overall cost of the migration process • The complexity of the migration process – so many stakeholders involved the DOC, Sentech, USAASA, ICASA, the broadcasters, the STB manufactures etc. • Will we really get a diversity of content? Cost of content, advertising fragmented across channels, volumes of content, will public service broadcasting content get lost in this environment.
Promises and challenges of the digital environment – issues to consider • SOS is still debating these issues. Issues to consider include: • The need for ICASA to work closely with other statutory bodies: • the Competition Commission to alleviate the issues of market concentration; • the MDDA to look at ways to support new broadcasters. • Further ICASA needs to be significantly strengthened. • It needs proper resourcing. • Its research capacity needs to be significantly boosted. • Its independence needs to safe-guarded.
What is to be done? Broadcasting policy review. • A government-led Broadcasting Policy Review process that is transparent and participatory: • new Broadcasting White Paper that focuses on the following: • policy for all three tiers of broadcasting: • public, community and commercial • Challenges/opportunities of digital broadcasting • An independent ICASA with sufficient capacity and funding to perform its duties in the new digital environment
What is to be done?Legislative amendments • We then need to look at legislative amendments: • New SABC Act or amendments to Broadcasting Act such that is becomes an SABC Act • Amendments to the Electronic Communications Act • To fix the problems caused by the lack of definitions of “control” in commercial broadcasting context • To update BBBEE and ownership and control provisions of the ECA to ensure diversity of ownership and content • Appropriate provisions to support community broadcasting: • Community of interest and geographic communities
What is to be done?Legislative amendments • Amendments to the ICASA Act • To bolster ICASA’s independence • To further empower ICASA through ensuring sufficient funding and human resources capacity • To require ICASA to monitor compliance with laws, regulations and licence conditions and to report thereon to Parliament and to the sector, particularly re: local content, independent production
What is to be done?Regulatory review • Updating Broadcasting Regulatory Environment (Icasa): • Updating micro policy ie ICASA position papers • Updating regulations to ensure: • Compliance with new policy • Compliance with new/amended legislation • Regulatory certainty by rationalising regulations to avoid overlap, contradictory provisions etc • We need a strong powerful independent ICASA in the digital age.