“Opportunistic” SABC demanding TV licences for laptops and computers

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is now looking to force viewers to pay television licences for computer monitors – reports Mybroadband.

Information landing through to BusinessTech Africa says the SABC is now demanding that South African viewers pay TV licence fees for computer monitors, even if they are not using those devices to watch TV.

The report further states that the public broadcaster sent a notice through an annual e-mailed TV Licence Renewal Notice letter.

The notices come a few years after the state broadcaster put on the table and then scrapped the idea of charging TV licence fees for any device that could connect to the internet, including smartphones.

This year’s notice stated that the definition of a TV set includes a “TV monitor (without receiving capabilities) able to receive a broadcast signal by virtue of being connected to any television receiving equipment.”

SABC then specified that the receiving equipment could include a “digital box/decoder, DVD [player] or PC”.

The SABC’s executive for corporate affairs and marketing, Gugu Ntuli, said the letter referred to TV monitors connected to TV receiving equipment.

“It must be noted that such receiving equipment (STB, decoder, tuner, etc.) renders the TV monitor as a TV due to the television broadcast signal transmitted,” Ntuli was quoted as saying.

The technology website’s report additionally indicates that the Auckland Park-based station specifically named a DVD player and PC as examples of TV receiving equipment, when neither has this inherent capability, which makes it possible for licence holders to easily mistake the term “digital box” for a streaming box with no broadcast-receiving functionality.

On behalf of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), CEO Wayne Duvenage said the SABC’s addition of monitors was wrong and appeared to be opportunistic in its search for “ailing” TV licence revenue.

“They had plans to amend the Act to include screens and computers that didn’t have television receiving capabilities, but I’m not sure this was done, and if so, it would have been heavily challenged in court,” Duvenage was quoted as saying.