Multichoice wants the streaming competition taxed and BEE compliant

DSTV owner Multichoice, which is grappling with a difficult market in South Africa, reiterated that streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ should pay tax and comply with the country’s black economic empowerment regulations.

The popular streaming services are referred to as over the top (OTT) platforms.

Multichoice CEO Calvo Mawela said there has to be regulatory parity in the market.

“It doesn’t help to continue to subject traditional players to more regulations and the OTT [over the top] players have a free reign. That creates an imbalance,” he told the Sunday Times.

Local OTTs include Local providers include Vodacom’s Video Play, eMedia’s eVOD and Telkom One.

“They have to comply with laws like any company operating in SA. If they are making money in SA they have to comply with the laws. They have to comply with BEE, employment requirements, pay tax and contribute to local content. That will be the starting point,” Mawela added.

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MultiChoice offers an aggregation of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Showmax apps on its decoder to give customers access to a variety of content in one place, which as helped subscribers on its DStv platform even if they downgrade to a cheaper offering.

It brings in additional revenue as these streaming services pay a fee for distribution and subscription collection. MultiChoice also provides internet packages to clients as well as a video streaming-only box for subscribers that do not want the satellite service. 

The company has 9-million clients in SA, and estimates there are 2-million video streaming clients in the country. 

Last month, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) said it would extend its inquiry into subscription broadcasting due to the growing availability of streaming services, which could lead to new regulations for the industry that is still dominated by MultiChoice.

Icasa said on Friday that it expects to finalise the inquiry at the end of March next year, but added it was “unable to pre-empt whether there will be regulations; that is dependent on the outcome of the findings”.

Presenting its annual results on Thursday, Multichoice pointed that its South African business faced an increasingly difficult consumer climate, with growth rates impacted by rising unemployment levels, intermittent load shedding, and disruption caused by the July riots in Durban and Johannesburg, according to a Business Tech report.

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