Hearings on the digital terrestrial television (DTTV) migration regulatory framework have revealed some stakeholders would rather M-Net not be allocated spectrum.
Submissions at the hearings held this week showed several companies, including the Media Monitoring Project (MMP), Telkom Media, On Digital Media (ODM) and etv are concerned that M-Net maintains a dominant market position, and has been allocated too many channels on the DTT networks.
MMP and etv have both questioned whether the company should have spectrum at all.
According to the submissions by the MMP, the organisation feels it is “quite extraordinary that M-Net should be given quite so many channels when the very basis for M-Net and CSN [M-Net's second DTT channel] as terrestrial licences have been superseded by MultiChoice's satellite broadcasting bouquet”.
MMP says it is not aware of any other broadcaster globally that holds both a terrestrial and satellite licence. “Given that these resources are limited and the apparent success of MultiChoice in the satellite market, and considering that these resources should be utilised in the public interest, it begs the question as to whether M-Net should be given any of the available resources,” explains the submission.
The organisation says it is concerned that the allocations, as they stand, will create a strong advantage for M-Net, while etv “appears to be clearly disadvantaged”.
Etv unhappy
“It is evident that the market is fundamentally skewed against etv,” reads the submission by the free-to-air broadcaster.
Etv reasons that, given the size of M-Net's subscriber base and its audience share, “it is questionable whether it should occupying scarce terrestrial spectrum at all”. The company compares M-Net's 1.9% audience share on its terrestrial service with SABC3's 13.2%, SABC2's 19%, e.tv's 24.1% and SABC1's 31%.
The broadcaster has also slammed its competitor's new channel reserved for DTT, CSN, saying it is a channel of no consequence. Etv's submission also questioned the number of channels allocated to the public broadcaster.
Fewer is better?
Both Telkom Media and ODM have been left out of the DTT migration trials, which began on 1 November.
While Telkom has not called for M-Net to be cut out of spectrum allocation, it has asked that the company only receive one channel as opposed to the two it has already. “The SABC's licences should, therefore, be consolidated into a single licence to provide public free-to-air broadcasting services, while the M-Net and CSN licences should be consolidated into a single licence to provide commercial subscription broadcasting services.”
M-Net has called for more channels (the entire multiplex, or eight channels), saying it cannot reasonably ask viewers to buy a new set-top box for two or even four channels.
ODM says the current allocation only entrenches an already monopolised market. “The regulations establish a solid foundation for the migration of existing terrestrial broadcasters but they do not address the broader market, thereby entrenching the dominant monopolistic position of the incumbent subscription broadcaster MultiChoice and its DSTV service, through the inclusion of M-Net and CSN on the DTT platform.”
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