The Democratic Alliance (DA), the official South African opposition party, has launched a petition against plans by the government to extend the payment of TV license fees to Netflix, Apple +, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.
In the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio-visual Content Services Policy Framework: A New Vision for South Africa 2020, the Department of Communications proposes broadening the definition of a “broadcasting service” to include online broadcasting services.
This means South Africans may have to pay more for their streaming services in the future, independent of whether they watch it on a TV, a computer, or a phone.
The DA strongly opposed the licence fee on streaming services, saying it is an underhanded attempt by the ANC to force South Africans to use their hard-earned money to bail out the SABC.
“It is ridiculous that the government wants to punish South Africans to use their hard-earned money to sustain an entity which the ANC, through their incessant political interference, destroyed,” the DA said.
“The broadcaster must find creative ways to self-sustain and break-even without making South Africans fork out any more money.”
