DOC to appeal etv court win

The DOC will lodge it’s appeal today.

The Department of Communications (DOC) says it has decided to appeal the court decision to grant Etv, SABC and free to air broadcasters control of the conditional access in the state-sponsored set top boxes.

The department says the decision was taken after considering the implications of the judgment on other broadcasters, particularly potential broadcasters, in line with the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy.

This is after free-to-air broadcaster Etv took government to court over who should manage conditional access to set-top-boxes. While Etv noted it supported migration to Digital Terrestrial Television, it questioned the decision to provide Sentech with control of the technology used to control access to digital television services.

According to the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy, STB controls should “enable addressable messaging and the ability to turn off lost or stolen decoders.

The DOC revealed it would lodge its appeal today. The department says it is also consulting with existing broadcasters and ICASA on the role of each party in the implementation of the conditional access as per the court judgment.