As part of the ANC’s resolutions from its latest conference, the party says it will push government to transform the paid-TV market.<\/p>\n
This would be to “ensure that there is no barriers to entry by in particular black people, black entrepreneurs and black industrialist in the paid television segments,” said Jackson Mthembu<\/a><\/strong>, chairperson of the ANC NEC subcommittee on media and communications.<\/p>\n Mthembu also said that the committee had resolved to finally complete the digital terrestrial migration by June 2019, with no further extensions allowed.<\/p>\n The change over was supposed to be completed in 2012, and no later than 2015 – the ITU’s deadline. However, this has failed every time.<\/p>\n Telecommunications minister\u00a0Siyabonga Cwele promised in September this year that the migration would start in earnest in 2018.<\/p>\n According to Mthembu, the committee directed government that June 2019 is the latest time that they can migrate fully and not partially, from analogue to digital.<\/p>\n “There will be no extension,” he said.<\/p>\n Despite previous failures to meet deadlines, also with the quips of ‘no extensions’, no action has been taken against any government official, and no one has been held accountable.<\/p>\n Yunus Carrim, who came the closest out of any (then) communications minister to implement the government’s policies in this regard was sacked in a subsequent cabinet reshuffle.<\/p>\n In the wake of r<\/a>eports pointing to multi-million rand payments<\/a><\/strong> made to channels like ANN7 and the SABC by Multichoice, Carrim alluded that his sacking was as a result of opposing digital migration policies favoured by the media giant<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The payments have put Multichoice in the spotlight, and has accelerated the government’s push for transformation in the sector.<\/p>\n
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