The object of this Act is to establish and develop a broadcasting policy in the Republic in the public interest and for that purpose to—
| (a) |
contribute to democracy, development of society, gender equality, nation building, provision of education and strengthening the spiritual and moral fibre of society; |
| (b) |
safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of South Africa; |
| (c) |
encourage ownership and control of broadcasting services through participation by persons from historically disadvantaged groups; |
| (d) |
ensure plurality of news, views and information and provide a wide range of entertainment and education programmes; |
| (e) |
cater for a broad range of services and specifically for the programming needs in respect of children, women, the youth and the disabled; |
| (f) |
encourage the development of human resources and training, and capacity building within the broadcasting sector especially amongst historically disadvantaged groups; |
| (g) |
encourage investment in the broadcasting sector; |
| (h) |
ensure fair competition in the broadcasting sector; |
| (i) |
ensure efficient use of the broadcasting frequency spectrum; |
| (j) |
provide a clear allocation of roles and assignment of tasks between policy formulation, regulation and service provision as well as articulation of long-term and intermediate-term goals; |
| (m) |
ensure that the commercial and community licences, viewed collectively, are controlled by persons or groups of persons from a diverse range of communities in South Africa; |
| (o) |
integrate multi-channel distribution systems into the broadcasting framework; |
| (p) |
provide access to signal distribution services for content providers; |
| (q) |
provide access to signal distribution services for broadcast content receivers; |
| (r) |
encourage the development of local programming content |
Public Service Commission Act, 1997
