Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
August 7, 1998
Every broadcasting service - whether satellite or terrestrial - will in future required to be licensed by Independent Broadcasting Authority. This is in terms of the new Broadcasting Bill which was tabled in Parliament today (Friday, August 7, 1998).
This would include services which:
Have a signal or packages of signals receivable in South Africa; Acquire programming rights for South Africa; Solicits subscribers, advertising or activates and deactivates the decoders of
It would exclude broadcasters in foreign countries whose signals may spill-over into South Africa.
Jay Naidoo, Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting said the move towards licensing all broadcasting services in South Africa was in line with international trends. At present, for example, satellite services in South Africa are not licensed.
"The Bill proposes that broadcasters be given one of three categories of licenses for various services. These include a public broadcasting service, a commercial broadcasting service and a community broadcasting service."
The Bill defines nine classes of licenses that the IBA can award to broadcasters. They are:
Free-to-air radio broadcasting service
Free-to-air television broadcasting service
Satellite-free-to-air radio service
Satellite-free-to-air television service
Satellite-subscription television service
Terrestrial-subscription television service
Direct-to-home delivery service
Local delivery service; and
Cable television subscription service.
Contact: Mandy Jean Woods PRO to Minister Naidoo Phone: (021) 462-1632 or 082 653 4211 Fax: (021) 462-1646 Email: mandy@doc.org.za