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In late October, new legislation was proposed by the SABC that would expand the definition of a TV licence to include streaming services.

They argued that the definition of when a TV licence is required is outdated and should be adjusted to accommodate current times. The idea was to charge users of all pay-TV services, including DStv, and video-on-demand (VOD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

This was put forward by Deputy Communications Minister Pinky Kekana in a presentation to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications. Predictably it was met with anger, or simply dismissed as ludicrous by South Africans.

To make matters worse, when asked to clarify exactly how this would all play out, SABC Head of TV Licences Sylvia Tladi didn’t seem to be able to settle on which devices, used to watch streaming services, would be reclassified as TVs.

She said that they wouldn’t be charging a TV licence fee for devices like laptops, but would be charging a licence fee for any device that would allow one to stream content – like laptops.

The public has been given the opportunity to comment on the proposed Act, which they’ve provisionally titled ‘Audio and Audiovisual Content Services Policy Framework: A New Vision for South Africa’. If you’re not keen to read the entire document, skip ahead to page 50 for the gist of the proposal.

We’ll call it the ‘Policy Framework‘ for the sake of brevity.

The ‘Policy Framework’ takes a bit of an odd turn in the introduction, drawing on the first, second and third Industrial Revolutions as a basis to argue that “rapid and unprecedented changes occurring both in [contemporary] society and communication have brought a period of volatility, complexity and unprecedented disruptive change”:

Propelled by the pervasiveness of social media platforms and proliferation of different broadcasting-like , on-demand video sharing platform services using the internet as a means of distribution and many of which operate on a global scale.

There are some good points, like the fact that radio is one of the primary ways that South Africans are able to access information and news, and the SABC as a free service is beneficial to those who cannot afford online streaming services.

One of the proposed changes, however, draws on what the ‘Police Framework’ calls the ‘cultural policy toolkit’ which will further complicate relationships with international streaming services.

The cultural policy toolkit used in the past has included public service programming, promotion of South African television content, south African music and languages, ensuring diversity of content, must carry of public service programming and facilitating access to sports of national interest on free-to-air services for all citizens.

To meet this, it has been proposed that at least 30% of all content streamed in South Africa needs to be produced locally.

Business Insider SA reports that some clarity has been provided on how all of this will be enforced in a presentation put before Parliament by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies on Wednesday. They plan to subject streaming-platforms to licensing fees.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) will be tasked with determining these fees and holding to account international services which fail to comply. This includes the establishment of a team, which would work closely with South African banks, to halt subscription payments to uncooperative service providers.

Banks interfering in private bank accounts without the permission of the account holder, to halt subscription payments, sounds super constitutional.

As the DA’s Phumzile Van Damme points out, enforcing this is going to be difficult, because the licence payments from international services like Netflix, will inevitably be paid by the viewer.

“This China-esque ‘censorship bureau’ stands in stark violation to the right of all South Africans to a free-flow of information, and would not meet the constitutional standard of the limitation of this right by government,” Van Damme said during the committee meeting in reference to the department’s proposal to halt payments to streaming services.

The department says that it has already received 20 000 comments on the ‘Policy Framework’, but that it intends to “push ahead” to amend its definition of “broadcasting services” in South Africa.

According to the government website, you have until November 30 to have your say.

Business Insider SA says that the deadline has been extended to February 15, 2021, but best to get those comments in sooner, rather than later.

Comments can also be emailed to aacs@dtps.gov.za.

[sources:policyframework&businessinsider]