South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC, has issued a tender seeking a bidder to develop a satellite TV broadcasting service, including satellite capacity and decoders, under a revenue-sharing scheme over a five-year contract. This presents a unique opportunity for the successful bidder to be part of a pioneering project in the broadcasting industry, with significant potential for growth and innovation.
The tender aims to mitigate the potential negative impact of South Africa’s migration to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting, set for 31 December 2024.
In a proactive move, the SABC is taking control of its destiny by establishing an integrated free-to-air Direct to Home (DTH) platform. This strategic initiative positions the SABC as a content aggregator, providing a diverse range of programming to cater to various audience preferences, and showcases the organization’s leadership in the industry.
Successful bidders are expected to supply 100,000 decoders for the initial phase of the project, enabling market testing. The SABC also specified the need for a 36MHz Ku-band transponder on Intelsat’s IS-20 satellite to introduce additional TV services.
There have been concerns about the need for IS-20 satellite space, which Sentech and MultiChoice currently access. However, the SABC has clarified that bidders may partner with third parties to access the satellite space, providing a feasible solution to this potential challenge and reassuring potential bidders and stakeholders about the project’s viability.
The analogue TV signal switch-off on 31 December is crucial in South Africa’s migration to digital terrestrial TV technology. However, concerns about potential negative impacts on indigent households, broadcasters’ audience figures, and advertising revenue have been raised.
E-media has challenged the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies’ efforts to distribute DTT set-top boxes to needy households, highlighting challenges in the registration and installation processes and the availability of STBs.
