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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched a petition to oppose the government’s plans to extend license fees to streaming services such as Netflix, Showmax, and others.

In the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio-visual Content Services Policy Framework: A New Vision for South Africa 2020, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies proposes broadening the definition of a “broadcasting service” to include online broadcasting services.

This means that South Africans will have to cough up more money for watching “broadcasting services”, regardless of whether it’s on a TV, a computer or a phone.

The law currently states that consumers must pay a TV licence fee for viewing “broadcasting services”, which includes subscription services like DSTV. When you buy a TV, regardless of whether you watch SABC content on it or not, you must pay a licence fee for any “broadcasting services.” In this sense, “broadcasting service” is limited to content viewed on a TV set.

The DA strongly opposes the license fee on streaming services. This is effectively an underhanded attempt by the ANC to force South Africans to use their hard-earned money to bail out the SABC.

It is ridiculous that the government wants to punish South Africans to use their hard-earned money to sustain an entity which the ANC, through their incessant political interference, destroyed.

The DA appreciates the importance of the SABC as a public broadcaster. But the broadcaster must find creative ways to self-sustain and break-even without making South Africans fork out any more money.

issued by The DA