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Ronald Reagan once said that the scariest words you could ever hear was “I’m from the government, and we’re here to help”.

Our own government’s version of this is “It’s working, so we’re here to f*** it up”, and with that in mind the powers that be have now decided to get involved in sport broadcasting rights.

Perhaps it is a bit facetious to immediately think the government has set its sights on sports as the next thing to ruin, especially as their intent seems to be somewhat ‘good’. I know, not a believable idea, but with most top sports only available to the people who begrudgingly still support Multichoice, do they perhaps have a point in their own ‘blind child lost in the forest’ way?

The general idea behind the Communications Department’s draft white paper, which is open for public comment until 8 September, is that certain sports are of ‘national importance’, so it would be in the national interest for free-to-air broadcasting services to also broadcast these to the public.

Indeed it is a gripe many have with high-profile matches that are exclusively on Supersport, especially after many Saffa’s haven’t seen the value of an M-Net subscription since they spoiled Queen’s Can’t Stop Us Now for everyone.

Titled “Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and Online Content Safety: A New Vision for South Africa“, the government doesn’t plan to interfere with broadcasters’ rights to bid for licences – as these can be fundamental to the commercial viability of certain services – some sporting events will however need to be sub-licensed to free-to-air broadcasters, like our own SABC channels.

Media analyst Arthur Goldstuck describes the scenario as truly a case of “which makes the decision, the chicken or the egg?” While Icasa councillors are appointed by government, they are appointed to be independent and to regulate broadcasting, Goldstuck notes.

“They are in fact entrusted with things like determining what broadcasters may or may not do, and regulating their behaviour in general. The Department of Communications oversees Icasa and cannot tell Icasa what to do.”

“Now you have a situation where the Department – along with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture – want to draw up a list of the kind of sports that need to be seen as being in the national interest and therefore must be accessible to all when it’s broadcast.”

Confused? Aren’t we all the time?

Icasa had already been working on something like this but now the claim is that the regulatory body is not capable of doing it, or is unable to, or even doesn’t want to.

Goldstruck seems to be as sceptical about this proposal as most people are with everything government does, saying that “the departments will come along and they’ll issue a regulation and it’ll be challenged in court like everything else that the Department of Communications and various other departments do.”

You can read the entire document here. Members of the public have until 8 September to submit their written comments on the draft white paper, so if you feel strongly about this, have your say.

Any changes will likely be dragged through the courts until way after the Rugby World Cup, so while they waste the court’s time, I will settle for watching the game at Cafe Caprice in Camps Bay.

The government hasn’t managed to regulate the view yet, and it’s always fine.

[source:capetalk]