The Government of South Africa is considering the issuance of licenses to streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus as part of efforts to regulate content providers. This motion, alongside a few others, makes up a draft white paper on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and Online Content Safety.
Over the past few years, technology has disrupted the audiovisual content industry, enabling consumers to access content beyond traditional channels. To roll with the times, the government wants to regulate every content provider including the new age types. If these draft policies get passed into law, streaming platforms may deal with additional laws.
The white paper’s Executive Summary notes that South Africa’s legal framework has failed to keep up with the massive advancements in technology. Justifying the decision to potentially introduce a licensing scheme for all content providers, the white paper says “These changes require policy interventions to ensure that the disruptions and changes do not reinforce current disparities of access in South Africa to ICT technologies and services thereby widening the digital divide.”
The goal is to establish a fair and transparent field so consumers can enjoy audio and audio-visual content services. By doing this, the government hopes it will contribute to socio-economic development and investment.
It also acknowledges that the content industry now has a couple of new terms. They include “on-demand content service”; “on-demand audio-visual content service”; “on-demand audio content service”; “user-generated video’’ and “video sharing platform service.”
Read also: Netflix’s successful crackdown on password sharing and what it means for Nigerian users
How South Africa’s regulation of Netflix and others will work
The white paper states that three classes of services will have to be licensed. The three classes of services are; Electronic Communications Network Services, Broadcasting Services, and Electronic Communication Services.
The policy document further divides the licenses into two groups: Individual and Class. While individual licenses apply to companies that use Spectrum for radio and broadcast services, Class licenses are for content providers that don’t use the above spectrum but still offer their content to citizens. Essentially, class licenses are for companies that render content services over the internet.
Based on the above classification, Satellite pay TV platforms like DSTV will require licensing. Regarding the exact license, the policy document offers some clarity. If DSTV were to, say, record an annual turnover for the past year that’s less than R100 million and above R50 million, the company would need a Class license.
An Individual license would only become necessary for DSTV if either its annual audience numbers increased over time or it recorded an annual turnover of R100m or above. However, holders of Individual licenses would face stricter regulation obligations.
The same license criteria apply to on-demand streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus. All license holders will also need to produce and advertise local content. According to the documents, the government is allowed to adjust the requirements once every three years if there is inflation and/or macroeconomic shifts.
Potential impact in South Africa
South Africa’s recent effort to grow alongside the massive disruption in the audio and video content industry is remarkable. Times have indeed changed, and it makes sense to ensure that all participating companies obtain a license.
This would enable the appropriate agency to effectively monitor the content provider for the benefit of the average citizen. In general, it’s a good look for South Africa and a move other countries can emulate.
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