MultiChoice is regarded as a premier entertainment destination for South Africans. With regards to the broadcasting company's pioneering content and technology, we often neglect the role played by key corporate figures. Debashine Thangevelo caught up with Calvo Mawela, who was recently appointed head of stakeholder and regulatory affairs for MultiChoice South Africa Group, to find out how his technical engineering expertise benefits his new title. By Debashine Thangevelo
IT was another manic morning for Calvo Mawela (pictured) and he was running late for our interview after his earlier meeting had taken longer than scheduled. But this pace isn't alien to Mawela: with several years in the corporate world he accepts it as par for the course.
The lanky new Head of Stakeholder and Regulatory Affairs for MultiChoice South Africa Group eventually arrives.
Calm as a Buddha, he settles into a chair with a smile. He had been in his new post for only two weeks when we chatted but, gauging from the knowledgeable way he spoke, it was clear why he was the man for the job.
Although he grew up in Mpumalanga, Mawela completed his BSc in electrical engineering at the University of Durban, Westville, and followed this up with an internship at Sentech.
His induction into the world of broadcasting started at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
I was appointed to head up the broadcasting division, dealing with regulation-making, policy, interpreting legislation and what it means - that's when I developed my understanding of it, he reflects.
Two or three years later, he was poached by Orbicom as the regulatory affairs manager and a year later became the general manager of regulatory affairs for M-Web and Orbicom.
That's how I got into the group and it explains where I am now, he laughs.
I think, to some extent, I still have the better of both worlds in as much as I am dealing with the regulatory aspect of things, because the law in itself is supposed to govern a highly technical environment.
So as technical issues arise as Icasa crafts regulations, I'm able to tap into my understanding of how things really work. It is a symbiotic relationship. In many instances, in this portfolio, you would find a lawyer doing this type of work.
With a foot in both worlds, Mawela says his key objective is to give strategic advice to the business (MultiChoice) as it continues to grow .
Of course, for him to be able to give input, it means he has to do his legwork, too.
From a regulatory perspective, there are the issues being dealt with, like how jurisdictions all over the world are handling the next evolution of technology in the area MultiChoice will want to go into.
Therefore, when the business decides to go in a particular direction, the question that arises, in terms of legislation, is: what can and cannot be done? That's where I give input; including whether there are any risks associated with the proposed new ventures.
The second thing is to just look at regulations as they come from time to time, and to also give input to the regulators out there.
This, explains Mawela, is to ensure a healthy industry - especially in instances where regulators who are distanced from the business, craft regulations based on public interest, some- times leading to the unintended consequences where the growth of the business ends up being stifled. This also highlights the pertinence of continuous feedback and discussions with the regulators and industry leaders.
Bringing it back to TV, he says: I think we are seeing a lot of change in the way TV is being consumed. And that will also impact on how the business takes its processes forward. What used to be people watching TV at a particular time, has changed. They now record whatever they want to see and decide when they want to watch it. This then impacts on other things, like how advertisers want to go forward now that the prime time slot they thought they would have swimming with eyeballs is changing all the time.
This also opens the gateway for other debates, with convenience versus regulation being just one of them.
He continues: But the bigger change coming to TV is coming from the telecommunications side. You see the likes of Google, YouTube, Netflix coming into an arena that was predominantly a broadcast arena.
You have this disruptive new technology that is coming in and is not regulated.
How do we respond to that? There are no laws in place.
With this new outlet gaining momentum, he points out that it becomes a Catch-22 situation for broadcasters that are highly regulated and have to comply with a lot of legislation.
Aside from being on the pulse with con- ferences and developments around the advancement of broadcasting, Mawela is on the ICT Policy Review Panel, which was formed by the Minister of Communications.
There are a lot of issues we are debating on digital migration. As you know, it has been going on for years. We have had a period of over 10 years where there hasn't been any review. I sit on the ICT Policy Review Panel to review all policies and legislations of ICT in the country.
We are working on a draft - it has been hectic. Now we are coming up with a newer one that is more forward-thinking and will take the industry to the next level.
As for the next big initiative, he says: The ultra-high definition TV is coming - that's the next evolution of HD coming in, which is much clearer. It is sort of a cross between technology and 3D, in a way.
Given his weighty portfolio, it's surprising that he can exude such calm. Then again, this is Mawela's playground and, when it comes to an ever-changing technical and regulatory TV landscape, he is in his element!
http://www.iol.co.za/
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
MultiChoice is regarded as a premier entertainment destination for South Africans. With regards to the broadcasting company's pioneering content and technology, we often neglect the role played by key corporate figures. Debashine Thangevelo caught up with Calvo Mawela, who was recently appointed head of stakeholder and regulatory affairs for MultiChoice South Africa Group, to find out how his technical engineering expertise benefits his new title. By Debashine Thangevelo
