{"id":217597,"date":"2018-01-03T11:50:13","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T09:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=217597"},"modified":"2018-01-03T16:46:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T14:46:58","slug":"__trashed-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/217597\/__trashed-5\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa to get new terrestrial pay TV channels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has opened <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.za\/sites\/default\/files\/41357_gen979.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">applications<\/a> <\/strong>for broadcasters to apply for\u00a0multiplexer 3 digital terrestrial television spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Multiplexer 3 (MUX 3) is intended for providing commercial subscription television broadcasting services, and\u00a0Icasa has said the successful applicant will be assigned 45% of MUX 3 capacity to launch pay TV services.<\/p>\n<p>Among the criteria to qualify for the spectrum are that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An applicant must be a television broadcasting service licensee, as defined in the Promotion of Diversity and Competition on Digital Terrestrial Television Regulations.<\/li>\n<li>An applicant must have a minimum of 30% ownership held by historically disadvantaged person(s) and\/or have a level 4 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) status.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Prior to the awarding of the spectrum licence, the applicant will be required to provide proof of funding to support the proposed launch date.<\/p>\n<p>According to Icasa the licensee must use the assigned radio frequencies <strong>within two years<\/strong> of the granting of the radio frequency spectrum licence. However, the licensee must also inform Icasa on the actual date of launch.<\/p>\n<p>While the tender is likely to go to a current major broadcaster such as DStv, Top TV or eTV, it could also open the door to a new player which has a broadcast license. However, regardless of who picks up the tender it will mean the option of new\u00a0terrestrial pay TV channels in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>The closing date for applications is 25 January 2018.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/217231\/dstv-and-multichoice-are-the-next-targets-for-transformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DStv and Multichoice are the next targets for transformation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Icasa has opened applications for more commercial subscription television broadcasting services in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":132744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[26,36],"class_list":["post-217597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-headline","tag-icasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217597"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217683,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217597\/revisions\/217683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}