NETFLIX KILLING DSTV IN SOUTH AFRICA COULD COST THOUSANDS OF JOBS.

South Africa is a leading video entertainment and internet company, MultiChoice has warned that if communications authority of the country proceeds with heavy-handed regulations for the pay TV market, it could cost thousands of jobs in South Africa.

ICASA (The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) is a independent regulatory body of the South African Government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the public interest.

ICASA will hold public hearings on an inquiry into subscription television broadcasting services from 7-11 May, and MultiChoice has briefed the media on the feedback it will put forward.

The company will argue that ICASA must not go overboard with the regulations, and that whatever it implements should apply to the whole pay TV sector – including services like Netflix.

“Right now, it looks as though ICASA is focused only on what pay TV used to be, but it is moving from satellites to online,”

Said MultiChoice South Africa CEO Calvo Mawela.

In 2017, ICASA released a discussion document on the pay TV inquiry where it laid out options to address MultiChoice’s “market dominance” in South Africa.

These included forcing exclusive sports rights contracts to be shortened, unbundling and splitting the sports rights, and forcing MultiChoice to license its rights to other broadcasters.

If ICASA proceeds with this kind of regulation, it will kill DStv’s business and hand the South African market to online streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon, said MultiChoice.

Loss of jobs

“Netflix will never employ a lot of people around the world like we have. It employs around 4,000 people for the whole group,”
Said Mawela.

MultiChoice has 8,000 employees in South Africa alone. It said the majority of its staff are black, and that most of the people it employs are women.

At the end of its last financial year, MultiChoice’s staff complement was 87% black, and 51% black women.

It is also a level 1 BBBEE contributor, paying R10.4 billion to black suppliers in the last financial year.

While there will be jobs for South Africans working in the broadcasting sector at multinationals like Netflix and Amazon, those companies won’t have the local focus MultiChoice does.

Competing online

MultiChoice said it is also looking to take on the likes of Netflix with a streaming-only DStv package.

The fact is MultiChoice can’t invest nearly the amount of capital Netflix can, and it has to comply with local broadcasting regulations that Netflix isn’t being held to.

“We are an established, mature industry that is looking out over a cliff. These regulations will push [us] over that cliff,”
Said MultiChoice.

Mawela said if ICASA’s inquiry was held three years ago, while they were trying to establish a licensing framework for pay TV, it would have made more sense.

Now the market has moved on, however, and DStv is not the market power it used to be.

“It’s way too far down the line. The horse has bolted. It is time to liberalise the market, not regulate it more heavily,” said Mawela.

SOURCE:My Broadband.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all ...

BEES 'ARRESTS' SUSPECTED THIEVES IN UGANDA.

Bees 'handcuffed' one of the suspects around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands. Image: Daily Monitor. Kampala, UGANDA: Two burglars who are suspected to have stolen a television set in Sofiia village, Busia Town in eastern Uganda are in police custody after they were attacked by a swarm of bees. Like police would handcuff a suspect, a swarm of bees mobbed the hands of one of the suspects, while another reportedly had the TV set stuck on his hands as they returned the stolen items to where they had been picked from. Ms Rashida Jowelia, the owner of the property, said her TV set was stolen from her house last Friday, but she decided to seek the services of a medicine man in Sofia Village rather than report the matter to police. The suspects were identified as Wycliffe Kinara and Richard Duki, both Kenyan nationals from Nakuru. Bees 'handcuffed' one of them around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands...

DEREK CHAUVIN TO BE CHARGED OVER ANOTHER 2017 INCIDENT.

New York, U.S: The Department of Justice is reportedly considering charging Derek Chauvin in a 2017 incident involving a Black teenager that came to light while prosecutors were preparing the George Floyd murder case against the former Minneapolis cop. The DOJ’s investigation focuses on footage of Chauvin striking a 14-year-old so hard that he needed stitches to close the wound, then kneeling on him for almost 17 minutes — mostly putting pressure on his upper back — as the youngster complained he couldn’t breathe, ABC News reported. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes before the 46-year-old Black man died May 25, 2020 after begging for air. Chauvin was convicted of his murder Tuesday. Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder on Tuesday. (AP) A state prosecutor wrote of the 2017 incident that “videos show a far more violent and forceful treatment of this child than Chauvin describes in his report,” yet no action was taken against him. ABC News reported t...

THOUSANDS OF FAKE COVID-19 VACCINES HAVE BEEN SEIZED IN SOUTH AFRICA & CHINA.

File photo - Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock Image: africanews. Lyon, FRANCE: Police have seized thousands of counterfeit coronavirus vaccines in South Africa and China and have made more than 80 arrests after a criminal network selling fake jabs was uncovered, Interpol said on Wednesday. In South Africa, police officers found 400 ampoules of fake vaccines, equivalent to around 2,400 doses, at a warehouse just outside Johannesburg. A large quantity of fake 3M masks was also found and police arrested three Chinese nationals and a Zambian national. Police in South Africa seized hundreds of fake COVID-19 vaccines and made several arrests following a global alert issued by INTERPOL. In China, police successfully identified a network selling counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines, raided the manufacturing premises, resulting in the arrest of some 80 suspects, and seized more than 3,000 fake vaccines on the scene. The investigation was supported and coordinated by Interpol’s Illicit Goods ...

THE TRIBE THAT WORSHIPS PRINCE PHILIP AS 'GOD'

Prince Philip corresponded with the villagers over the years, and sent pictures of himself holding a ceremonial club they gave him. Image: REUTERS. Tanna, VANNUATU: As Britons mourn the death of Prince Philip, they are joined by a tribal community on a Pacific island half a world away. For decades, two villages on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna have revered the Duke of Edinburgh as a god-like spiritual figure. A formal period of mourning is now under way. On Monday, 12, April, scores of tribespeople gathered in a ceremony to remember Prince Philip. Image: REUTERS. "The connection between the people on the island of Tanna and the English people is very strong... We are sending condolence messages to the Royal Family and the people of England," said tribal leader Chief Yapa, according to Reuters news agency. For the next few weeks, villagers will periodically meet to conduct rites for the duke, who is seen as a "recycled descendant of a very powerful spirit or god th...

CAR STOLEN BY KENYAN EX-MINISTER FOUND ABANDONED.

Nairobi, KENYA: A classic Mercedes Benz stolen from a showroom in Nairobi by former minister Paul Ngei has been found in a deplorable state. Photos of the car which were shared on social media showed it mounted on stones and without wheels, its bonnet wide open and its paint cracking up. The Mercedes Benz 300SEL registration number KNM 190 was a premium car in its heyday. Paul Joseph Ngei (18 October 1923 – 15 August 2004) was a Kenyan politician who was imprisoned for his role in the anti-colonial movement, but who went on to hold several government ministerial positions after Kenya became independent. Paul Ngei walked into the famous car showroom in Nairobi (DT Dobie) in the 1970s and drove away with the vehicle never to return or pay for it. At the time of its release, it was the world's fastest four-door car and when Ngei was pushed to pay for the vehicle, he would always refer the agents to State House and ask them to send the bill there. The rogue minister drove the car for m...

CHINA BANS WORKERS FROM DRINKING ALCOHOL AFTER WORK.

Beijing, CHINA: Chinese authorities have released regulations to ban civil servants from drinking alcohol outside their working hours to boost their work performance and improve the government’s image. The move can help state employees concentrate on their work and avoid mistakes, according to official media. It is also deemed crucial in the prevention of bribery, which often takes place during lavish, out-of-office meals that feature liquor. Communist officials, civil servants and staff in state-run firms must not drink after work on weekdays, according to the rules which have been rolled out in multiple Chinese regions. Similar rules are now being enforced in multiple regions – including the city of Nanjing and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. While some local authorities have in the past cracked down on work-related drinking events, the recent push prohibits the consumption of alcohol in officials’ private time on weekdays completely. In the county of Qingcheng in Gansu, gov...

KENYAN WOMAN ARRESTED OVER MISSING DUTCH BUSINESS TYCOON HUSBAND.

Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen and his wife Sarah Wairimu Kamotho. He has gone missing and the wife arrested. Nairobi, KENYA: The wife of a missing Dutch national Tob Cohen was on Wednesday arrested as police investigate his disappearance. Ms Sarah Wairimu Kamotho was arrested after police had picked and interrogated her for the third time over the disappearance of Mr Kohen on July 19, 2019 from their Lower Kabete home, Nairobi. Cohen is yet to be found since he went missing from their home in spite of efforts by authorities and his family to trace him. Police say they have no clue on what happened to the golf lover who had an ongoing divorce case in court and had filed assault claims against his wife of 12 years. Mrs Wairimu’s lawyer Philip Murgor said his client was innocent and did not understand why police arrested her. “I don’t know why they are arresting her yet she is also concerned about the whereabouts of her husband. She is innocent,” he said. Mrs Wai...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog