In October the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies of South Africa, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, published a white paper which proposed a complete overhaul of the regulations that govern the country’s broadcasting industry. It proposed imposing licence requirements on Internet streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+.
Now comes news that the government wants to enforce a 30% local content quota for these Internet streaming services in South Africa thereby promoting local content and languages.
According to MyBroadband government wants to “reposition the audio-visual media sectors for future growth and promote investments”.
The Minister said, “Under paragraph 5.2.8, where we deal with the Promotion of South African Content and languages, the Draft White Paper, in paragraph 5.2.8.9, indicates that in respect of on-demand content services targeting South African audiences, they should also have South African content obligations.”
“These South African content obligations can apply in a cascading manner distinguishing between individual and class licensees and whether the service is public, commercial, or community/non-profit in nature and should not exceed 30% of the video catalogue.”
The draft white paper notes that the 30% content requirement should be set by the regulator in a graduated manner considering the nature of the streaming service in question.
It is not clear whether international streaming services such as Netflix will be required to adhere to this local content quota, as it could be classified as a “streaming service targeting South African audiences”.
