Top Anc Mp Calls For New Rules For Streamers Like Netflix

Diko, who chairs parliament's portfolio committee on communications digital technologies, made the remarks in a statement following the publication on Monday of the Competition Commission's provisional report on media and digital platforms. Publication of the report followed a 16-month inquiry into the relationship between local news media and multinational digital platform companies such as Google and Meta.

In the report, the commission estimated that Google made between R1.1-billion and R1.5-billion in revenue through displaying content created by local news media in 2023. Google has disputed the numbers.

However, the commission said, the revenue split between local media and Google is skewed in favour of the search giant. The commission proposed in its report, which is provisional, that Google pay between R300-million and R500-million/year over three to five years to local media and implement other initiatives to "rectify the imbalance in shared value".

An interdepartmental task team will be set up to report to the minister on mechanisms to ensure compliance by international firms that meet the licensing criteria but do not have a physical business premises in South Africa and potentially refuse to apply for a licence, said the document .

Central to these developments is the crisis faced by the SABC, with its funding model at the centre of a fractious battle between the ANC and its government of national unity partner, the Democratic Alliance. Communications minister and DA MP Solly Malatsi withdrew the bill from parliament last November, arguing that the draft legislation in its current form failed to address issues with the public broadcaster's funding model.