MULTICHOICE SAYS NO TO COLLECTING TV LICENCE FEES

The South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) suggested that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and prominent broadcasters and streamers should collect TV licence fees on their behalf.

MultiChoice’s reply to that? No.

“MultiChoice firmly opposes any suggestion that it and streaming companies should be required to collect TV licence fees.”

In a response to MyBroadband on the matter, Multichoice added that it “firmly opposes any suggestion that it and streaming companies should be required to collect TV licence fees”.

As part of its response, MultiChoice has proposed a model in which SARS could manage TV licence collections instead of them.

MultiChoice added that the obligation to collect the fees “would raise concerns around privacy and fairness, not to mention the costs associated with system adjustments and customer service”.

MyBroadband reports that the SABC has been loss-making since the 2014/15 financial year, with TV licence avoidance being a major contributor to its poor financial performance.

In 2023, R4.65 billion was billed for TV licences. The SABC only collected R741.2 of that.

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