Preconditions of a Competitive Pay-TV Market: The Case of South Africa

Abstract

In 2007 five new entrants were awarded licences to compete with the incumbent firm in South Africa’s pay-TV market. This paper assesses whether the pay-TV market could be competitive by studying the South African market and European Commission’s case involving Newscorp and Telepiu. The pay-TV market meets the requirements of a liberalised market that requires ex ante regulatory interventions for competitive outcomes to be realised, as it is susceptible to destructive competition. In the main, conditions of access to programming content (particularly premium content) and interoperability of set-top-boxes may require ex ante regulations for competition to prevail. Without meeting these key pre-conditions, prospects for competition in South Africa’s pay-TV market may be dampened.