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Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) join e.tv in filling an affidavit at the High Court in a bid to postpone South Africa's Analogue Switch-Off, now scheduled for 31 March 2025. According to MMA and SOS, free-to-air audience will diminish from 55.1% of television household population to 26.6% if it happens. >>

TVSA Team
29 Jan 2025 11:50

Their full statement:

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) join e.tv (PTY) limited in filling an affidavit at the High Court of South Africa.

This affidavit follows the latest postponement of the Analogue Switch-off (ASO) to 31 March 2025.

The affidavit addresses the devasting impact of the premature ASO on the public, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), community television broadcasters and the exclusion of MMA and SOS from regular consultations with broadcasters.

The current ASO date of 31st March 2025 will have the following significant impact:

- Poor and marginalised communities will be cut off from free to air television thus denying their right to access to information.

- Loss of advertising and sponsorship revenue for the SABC.

- The free-to-air audience will diminish from 55.1% of television household population to 26.6% of television household population.

We are hoping that the High Court rules in the public interest as the Constitutional Court did in 2022 in a case of e.tv (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies and Others CCT89/22 &CCT92/22.

At this time it declared the ASO date of 30 June 2022 as unconstitutional, having thoroughly examined the impact it would have on the public and the broadcasters.

We are also hopeful that the government will reconsider and postpone the ASO date of 31st March 2025 to ensure a proper roll-out of the set-top boxes (STBs) so that no South African is left without access to television.