Big accusation in E-tv legal fight

The legal bid to stop South Africa’s analogue switch-off set for the end of March is before the Gauteng High Court, and communication minister Solly Malatsi’s representation has accused E-tv of fighting to protect its commercial interests.

Malatsi’s legal team is led by Advocate Kennedy Tsatsawane, who argued that E-tv has changed its position from supporting an expedited analogue switch-off to fighting against it.

“E-tv is not necessarily litigating this case to protect the interests of the poor. It is litigating in its application to protect its own commercial interests,” said Tsatsawane.

He explained that when E-tv was switching off some of its analogue transmitters, broadcasters and state signal distributor Sentech arranged to display a message on TV sets informing them of the switch-off.

“The message which E-tv requested Sentech to broadcast through all television sets said E-tv analogue service will not be available in your area,” explained Tsatsawane.

“Then it said: to continue enjoying your favourite TV shows and get many more entertaining channels, get an Openview decoder from a retailer near you.”

For reference, the state has sponsored set-top boxes (STBs) that can receive digital terrestrial television signals for indigent households to continue accessing public TV after the switch-off.

“My lord, this is not the STB which is provided by the government. This is an STB which is provided by E-tv itself at a cost,” said Tsatsawane.

“When they did this, why did they not send a message to the poorest of the poor that they say they are fighting for in this application.”

“There’s absolutely no explanation for it and that is why we say it is about their own commercial interests more than the poorest of the poor,” he added.

He explained that if it were truly concerned about people who live in poverty, it would have said something along the lines of:

“If you are unable to procure this Openview decoder, you must urgently register and procure a state-sponsored STB.”

“But it didn’t do that,” added Tsatsawane.

In early December 2024, Malatsi revealed that he had secured the cabinet’s support to delay the analogue switch-off from 31 December 2024 to 31 March 2025.

“This extension will ensure that as many indigent households as possible will enjoy their right to access broadcast services,” the minister said.

Free-to-air broadcasters like E-tv and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had warned that the December 2024 deadline would have left millions of indigent households without access to TV broadcasts.

However, Malatsi said his department estimates that around 467,000 households still need to get a digital STB.

Malatsi said his department had committed to continue working with broadcasters and other stakeholders on the project.

“Their commitment to ensuring that the free-to-air households migrate is critical to the success of this programme,” he said.

“The postponement of the analogue switch-off deadline recognises the considerable delays that have plagued the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) project since its inception,” the minister continued.

He said the latest delay would provide the necessary relief to give South Africa more time to migrate as many households as possible before the final switch-off.

Malatsi added that government will continue to subsidise indigent households in this regard.

The minister said there is no debate that the BDM project has taken far too long, reiterating that it has cost the country R1.23 billion in dual illumination fees over the past decade.

“This process is costly and cannot be sustained indefinitely. More so, at a time when the fiscus is under extreme pressure,” he added.

Moreover, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies recently told its Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that it hadn’t allocated further funding for dual illumination in 2024/25.

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies recently informed its Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that no further funding had been allocated for dual illumination for the 2024/25 financial year.

The table below summarises the BDM project, the ministers that have come and gone during various periods of the project, and its many missed deadlines.