An announcement on whether SA's struggling second pay-TV provider, TopTV, will be granted a licence to air adult content will be made "soon".
This is according to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), and comes just over a month after the regulator held public hearings on TopTV's second application to introduce a pornography package as part of its dwindling bouquet.
TopTV parent company On Digital Media (ODM) saw its first application for the same stonewalled by ICASA last year, after a legal spat between the two, as well as vehement public protest by certain religious and civil factions.
If ICASA gives TopTV's application the go-ahead this time, the pay-TV operator will launch a standalone package of three adult channels with content supplied by global brand Playboy Entertainment. The service will require a separate subscription and will be double PIN-protected. Unlike TopTV's first porn proposition, the company has decided to restrict broadcasting to the watershed period between 8pm and 5am - a decision motivated by "considerable public input".
TopTV CEO Eddie Mbalo says the application is not part of a turnaround strategy, but rather a case of filling content gaps in the industry. "TopTV is constantly scanning the market environment to determine the content gaps. This is part of that process."
Undying opposition
Mirroring the sentiment of opposing organisations and individuals following TopTV's first pornography application, local churches and religious groups have again spoken out against what they believe will damage SA's moral fibre.
The Family Policy Institute (FPI), which has initiated a nationwide boycott of TopTV and its advertisers, said in a statement yesterday that TopTV's application for adult content on SA's airwaves is part of the "growing attacks against the church".
Founder and president of the FPI, Errol Naidoo, says TopTV is "bankrupt and desperately seeking help" after being "run into the ground as a result of bad decisions by incompetent management".
Naidoo suggests there is more to TopTV's application than meets the eye and appeals to the public: "Please do not allow TopTV's incompetence to further destroy our society. You and I must unite to stop them in their tracks to protect the safety and dignity of vulnerable women and children in SA."
Mbalo has declined to comment on opposing bodies, so as not to "pre-judge" the ICASA process.
Rescue attempt
Meanwhile, the company is in the critical stages of saving itself from certain liquidation as confirmation of a strategic equity partner looms.
In November, ODM opted for business rescue in terms of the Companies Act after being deemed technically insolvent by KPMG in June last year.
Global technology company StarTimes China, which already has a considerable stake in the African pay-TV market, has since made an offer to buy a 20% stake in the company in a bid to inject cash for TopTV to manage its financial obligations to creditors. Local regulations currently limit foreign ownership in licensed broadcasting entities to 20%.
With 2.3 million African pay-TV subscribers, the Chinese firm has extensive expertise and has committed to bring human capital investments through skills transfer, restore TopTV's brand, grow its subscriber base, and "offer services at half their current costs and let ordinary households in SA pay less for good quality digital television".
The full proposal is included in TopTV's Business Rescue Plan (made public a week ago).
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