The battle rages on over TDS's recent decision to limit channel distribution to those that were sufficiently up to date with their broadcasting fees.
The signals of RDV, WALF TV, ITV, TOUBA TV, AFRICA 7, Bantamba TV, and other media outlets have been interrupted. This is perceived as disguised censorship and adds to the dispute between the public authorities and the Senegalese press.
Recap of previous episodes:
In 2015, EXCAF Telecom won an international tender for a government concession to build and operate the DTT infrastructure in exchange for exclusive rights to operate two multiplexes for commercial use.
This agreement has been renewed once by the CNRA.
The conflict with TDS (Télédifusion du Sénégal)
On July 31, 2024, TDS SA, the public operator of digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting in Senegal, announced the withdrawal of the commercial and technical operation of the two multiplexes from EXCAF Telecom, considering that the five-year period, renewable once, that the State had granted to EXCAF had come to an end.
TDS SA has disconnected foreign channels from the EXCAF package in the regions and made decoders in Dakar free-to-air.
In order to have its rights restored, EXCAF Telecom immediately took legal action, arguing that the regulatory body (the CNRA), which had signed its operating agreement, had never authorized TDS SA to interrupt the broadcasting of EXCAF Telecom's programs.
On October 14, 2024, the judge presiding over summary proceedings at the Dakar Commercial Court referred the case to a panel of judges for a review of the merits without ordering the immediate restoration of EXCAF's rights.
Thus, in mid-February 2025, the legal dispute between the two companies was still ongoing, with EXCAF Telecom continuing to contest TDS SA's decision and claiming that its operating rights had been illegally confiscated. For its part, TDS SA presents itself as the sole manager of the DTT infrastructure since July 31, 2024, and wishes to recover the sums unpaid by broadcasters.
March 2025: standoff with publishers
TDS stated in a recent press release that channels must pay TDS broadcasting fees in exchange for their presence on the DTT package. To date, TDS estimates the cumulative amount of unpaid broadcasting fees at 577 million CFA francs.
TDS-SA also wished to provide the following clarifications:
- TDS-SA's technical partner has decided to reduce the bandwidth allocated for nationwide broadcasting of DTT channels. This situation requires TDS-SA to continue broadcasting only those channels for which the level of payment of outstanding invoices was satisfactory.
- TDS states that it has not made any cuts and points out that the sums owed by television channels are not license fees but broadcasting costs.
- TDS calls on everyone to take responsibility for maintaining service continuity.
These episodes, against a backdrop of censorship and legal battles, highlight the initial strategic error made by the government and technology players around DTT 10 years ago: Senegal was one of the first countries to launch the service, offering an original solution without financial support from the government, but in the end, everyone finds themselves penalized by the situation.
- EXCAF has invested millions and financed a network that will never be profitable.
- The channels have agreed to a broadcasting model that they are required to pay for, even though it does not offer them much benefit, since although DTT is available everywhere, very few households in Senegal have a DTT decoder. For the channels to sign up to the project, the new network manager would need to completely rethink DTT's commercial offering and communicate widely with the population about the benefits it brings.
- Viewers are also losing out, as DTT was initially intended to replace free analog broadcasting with free digital broadcasting, allowing viewers to receive a large number of channels free of charge. This has not been the case in Senegal, given the initial choice.
- The government now has, via TDS, a network of terrestrial frequencies that it did not finance but which brings it nothing except litigation. Will TDS, which is a technical structure, be able to propose a new vision for DTT that is convincing enough for the channels to finance it and make it widely known to the public?
- Will the solution of offering telecom operators the opportunity to use the frequencies freed up by DTT be implemented by the government, even though there is no demand for this from telecom operators?
Season 1 may have come to an end, but the story is far from over: Season 2 promises to be exciting.