While a Chinese company has been lined up to bail out ailing pay-TV provider TopTV, it is now more unlikely than ever that the broadcaster will have any significant impact on the local broadcasting space.

I would also venture to say that the newcomer is on its last legs and will probably fold and disappear into the pages of history. Let’s face it, as much as we wanted to see it succeed, TopTV never really stood a chance, since it was born with terminal cancer of the monopoly.

As has been the issue with other companies trying to enter monopolised sectors in South Africa, it seems that it’s a case of too little too late. Despite good intentions, millions of eagerly awaiting consumers, and a seemingly solid offering, it appears that the entrenched incumbent – having enjoyed so many years of unopposed dominance – is unlikely to be uprooted by some Johnny-come-lately. Even if the newcomer touts increased competition, lower prices and better variety.

A case in point was the arrival of Neotel in the fixed-line telecoms space. For the consumer, who was truly sick and tired of Telkom’s historic monopoly, poor service and uncompetitive pricing, the arrival of a second national operator was a really big event… and then nothing happened.

Sadly, since its inception in 2006, Neotel has achieved nothing signifi cant for the consumer and, frankly, as far as the man on the street is concerned, it might as well not be here at all.

Not that it is Neotel’s fault. Or perhaps it is. Perhaps Neotel should have taken more time to understand the local market and then it would have realised that even though competition was very much wanted, a more innovative approach would have been required.

Back to TopTV: While the broadcaster, via its holding company On Digital Media, identified the gap and went for it, it is clear it did not have a good understanding of the local market and what it would take to tackle the incumbent DSTV.

StarTime, the Chinese media group that is looking to rescue TopTV, has come out fighting. It says it plans to take on DSTV by slashing pay-TV subscription fees, dramatically improving content and “rattling” the South African pay-TV market.

That’s all cool, but isn’t that what TopTV set out to do in the fi rst place?

At least StarTimes wasted no time identifying problems with TopTV. The company criticised the broadcaster for lacking the scale and experience of management, which resulted in low-quality and highly-priced programmes. In addition, it said that TopTV does not have any differentiation or competitive advantage.

This is a good start, but can the company actually crack the market? The smart money seems to be on “no”.

Happy reading!

Martin Czernowalow