South African television viewers are suddenly faced with more viewing choice than they can shake a stick at, with the announcement by the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA) on Wednesday of four new pay-TV operators.
After three years of submissions, hearings, tears and wrangling, five companies (one of them existing encumbent Multichoice Africa) out of the original 18 who applied have been awarded pay-TV licences.
The four new rivals to Multichoice are Telkom Media, E-Sat, On Digital Media (ODM) and Walking On Water.
Three applicants - Worldspace Southern Africa, Multichannel Television, and Sentech - withdrew their applications before judgement could be made. The remaining 10 were all denied licences.
According to ICASA chairman Paris Mashile, the regulator hopes to achieve the following objectives through awarding of the new licences:
1. Ensure that broadcasting services, viewed collectively, are provided by persons or groups of persons from a diverse range of communities in South Africa.
2. Promote the empowerment of historically disadvantaged persons including women, the youth and people with disabilities in accordance with the charter for the promotion of black economic empowerment in the information and communications technology sector.
3. Address poverty alleviation.
4. Encourage economic growth and investment.
5. Develop programmes to address the dual economy.
6. Ensure job creation.
7. Ensure broad-based Black Economic Empowerment.
8. Liberalise the sector.
9. Ensure access and affordability of services.
10. Guarantee a higher and wider customer satisfaction index.
ICASA is currently finalising the document which will provide the reasons for the decisions, which will be made available to all interested parties within a period of three weeks.
According to the regulator, the new TV operators could be up and running by December.
So what can you - the viewer - realistically expect to get out of all this? The best way to put you in the picture is to give you a brief rundown of who the players are and what they're claiming to be able to offer.
1. MultichoiceUntil yesterday, Multichoice was the only pay-TV operator in South Africa, broadcasting to more than 50 countries on the African continent via satellite and Internet services.
They offer a wide variety of programming including dedicated sport, movie and news channels including M-Net, actionX, SuperSport, Hallmark, BBC Prime, National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, The History Channel and dozens more.
They are reportedly planning to add a further 30 audio and video channels in the near future.
They have more than 1-million subscribers already, at R439.90/month for DStv Premium, and R199/month for the DStv Compact bouquet, which is limited to 27 channels.
Fantastic programming, but geared almost entirely at the higher-income earners.
2. Telkom MediaTelkom was a shoo-in for a licence for two major reasons: it has an existing comprehensive fibre network that gives it the ability to deliver content to homes effectively and cheaply; and it has already raised R7-billion to get it going.
Their planned offering includes flexible satellite television bouquets, a video-on-demand service, a 24-hour news channel with its own staffers and 20 mobile broadcast units, multiple sports channels, television delivered via broadband and other additional web-based content available on demand.
They plan to provide a bouquet of 15 channels that middle-income consumers can subscribe to for less than R100, which should make pay-TV affordable for another 40% of South Africans.
Additionally, subscribers will be able to upgrade their package (by paying more of course) to include more movies, sport, etc.
If they're able to deliver all that, they should be the next biggest player after Multichoice.
Their only downside (apart from predictably bad support staff) will be the fact that their news channel is headed up by none other than former e.tv and SABC head of news, Jimi Matthews.
If you're a fan of his work, then no sweat. We aren't, unfortunately.
Still - overall Telkom Media looks jacked, sorted, modern and ready to spend lots of money on us while asking little in return. Our kinda pay operator, Jimi or not.
3. E-SatE-Sat is the sister company of free-to-air operator e.tv, who realised they had to expand their offering and decided to do it via a satellite subscription service.
They have proposed a 21-channel package based on movies, sport and a 24-hour news channel. The good news for them (and us) is that once bitten by Jimi, twice shy - he'll be busy buggering up Telkom's news offering.
No word yet on what sort of pricing they're aiming for.
4. On Digital MediaAimed at middle-to-high income earners, ODM's great strength lies in allowing subscribers to pay for only the channels they want, meaning they can create their own custom bouquets.
Backed by the likes of ABSA, the Development Bank of South Africa and the investment wing of COSATU, ODM proposed a 40-50 channel service ranging in price from R149/month to R369/month.
They will deliver via satellite.
5. Walking On WaterPraise Jesus! Hallelujah!
As the title of the company sugests it is totally religion-based, citing the 80 percent representation of Christians in South Africa as a motivating factor.
Unlike the other successful applicants, WoW is a totally niche operator, offering a wide range of programmes based on "Christian lifestyle principles".
According to the Mail & Guardian, the broadcaster wants to take the home entertainment industry "to a higher level by enriching homes and building families on a rock-solid foundation, Jesus Christ".
If you're a devil-worshipper, an atheist or a Muslim, you'll probably be giving this one a miss. Just a hunch.
So there you have it - more choice than you can handle. Question is: how will you handle it? Will you be looking to enhance your current television options, which are precious little if you aren't an existing pay-TV subscriber? Or are you satisfied with the free-to-air-fare?
It's going to come down to who can offer the cheapest price for the best options, or whoever is smart enough to offer sport and porn in the same bundle.