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Siyaya TV in uphill battle for market share

Tyson Ngubeni
By Tyson Ngubeni
Johannesburg, 20 Nov 2014
ICASA aims to widen access to premium content among pay-TV players.
ICASA aims to widen access to premium content among pay-TV players.

Yet another pay-TV player has entered the fray, aiming to challenge the dominance long held by MultiChoice.

However, analysts question whether it can stand toe-to-toe with the incumbent in the battle for subscribers and premium content.

Siyaya TV was recently granted its pay-TV licence. The 100% black-owned consortium is backed by North West-based community Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela Traditional Authority (BBKTA), which reportedly owns a 40% stake. Other shareholders include Transnet Freight CEO Siyabonga Gama, Siyaya board member Aubrey Tau, and TV personality Dali Tambo.

Little is known about Siyaya TV, but the company came into the public eye after it emerged it secured the rights to Bafana Bafana matches in a R1 billion deal that will come into effect next year.

Speaking earlier this week, Siyaya chairperson Vuyo Mahlati said the company was "looking forward to making a positive contribution into this industry" and setting it in a new trajectory.

Although Siyaya reportedly plans to launch services before year's end, it has little to no online presence and ITWeb's attempts to reach it through BBKTA were unsuccessful.

Tough competition

MultiChoice holds around 95% of the pay-TV market and reported its DStv service is beamed to five million homes as of March - an increase of 556 486 from 2013.

Part of Siyaya's uphill battle for market share, says Vestact analyst Sasha Naryshkine, will be the financial muscle needed to secure key content such as sport. "There is only one thing that you cannot watch delayed, and that is sport. In order to show sport, you need the rights, which are getting more and more expensive. The Bafana games I guess are a step in the right direction, but would people really sign up for just a handful of games a year?"

He adds that Siyaya could make a bigger projected impact if it had the rights to the local football league - another ace held by MultiChoice's SuperSport offering.

Some of that financial muscle may come BBKTA, which has interests in mining, tourism, manufacturing and agriculture.

Seen it before

Siyaya is not the first entrant to challenge the status-quo. TopTV emerged on the scene in 2010 under the umbrella of On Digital Media, but the company struggled to make an impact and filed for business rescue a few years later. Chinese-based media group StarTimes took a 20% equity stake in ODM, aiming to fund operations, and the company recently announced it had paid off R45 million in debt.

StarSat is reported to have between 100 000 and 120 000 paying subscribers, and 400 000 decoders installed in households across SA.

Another effort which failed to gain traction is Walking on Walter Television (WowTV), which aimed to focus on family-friendly content.

In April, the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) push for increased competition saw it conditionally grant pay-TV licences to Close-T Broadcast Network Holdings, Mindset Media Enterprises, Mobile TV, Kagiso TV and Siyaya.

'Breaking exclusivity'

ICASA's additional plans to foster competition are focused on widening access to premium content, according to spokesperson Paseka Maleka. He says the authority is "gathering international precedent on the necessity for regulatory intervention in the subscription broadcasting market".

"ICASA is currently about to engage South African licensees on relevant information requirements to compare the international trends to the situation in SA," he adds.

Ovum analyst Richard Hurst describes access to content as the most crucial aspect of the regulatory environment that could "break up the exclusivity that has emerged". He says new entrants will continue to find it difficult to find a footing without that aspect being addressed.

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