The broadcaster eTV has had two other organisations join its fight in the battle against the Analogue switch off in South Africa.

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) said it joined e.tv in filing an affidavit at the High Court of South Africa.

This affidavit comes after the latest postponement of the Analogue Switch-off (ASO) to 31 March 2025.

In a statement on Monday, MMA and SOS said, “The affidavit addresses the devastating impact of the premature ASO on the public, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), community television broadcasters and the exclusion of MMA and SOS from regular consultations with broadcasters.”

The organisations said that the current date of 31 March 2025 will have the following significant impact:

Poor and marginalised communities will be cut off from free to air television thus denying their right to access to information.
Loss of advertising and sponsorship revenue for the SABC
The free-to-air audience will diminish from 55.1% of television household population to 26.6% of television household population.

“We are hoping that the High Court rules in the public interest as the Constitutional Court did in 2022 in a case of e.tv (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies and Others CCT89/22 &CCT92/22; when it declared the ASO date of 30 June 2022 as unconstitutional, having thoroughly examined the impact it would have on the public and the broadcasters.”

“We are also hopeful that the government will reconsider and postpone the ASO date of 31 March 2025 to ensure a proper roll-out of the set-top boxes (STBs) so that no South African is left without access to television,” the organisations further stated.

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eTV, media groups challenge South Africa's 2025 analogue switch-off date