A dealer television licence is compulsory for every store where television sets are on display, awaiting sale. If your company has five branches where TV sets are for sale, five dealer’s licences are required by law – irrespective of the number of television sets displayed on the premises. Compliance with the law costs only R265 annually per store. However, television sets that are used for business purposes and are not merely on display are required to be separately licensed in terms of the regulations applicable to businesses. Please refer to the latest Television Licence Fees for each Television Licence category.

Prior to the sale of a television set, you are required under the Broadcasting Act no 4 of 1999 as amended, to verify that a prospective purchaser is the holder of a valid (paid-up) TV licence. Failure to do so has costly consequences. A retailer selling a TV set to an unlicensed purchaser is liable for a penalty of between R3000 and R10 000 for every set so sold. A retailer is also required to capture the details of clients to whom sets are sold in order to submit a written monthly register to the SABC.

The Broadcasting Act stipulates monthly and yearly compliance requirements for retailers:

• On a monthly basis, a written sales register reflecting the number of television sets sold in the previous month must be sent to the SABC.
• On a yearly basis (within thirty days of the end the licensing year) an audit statement reflecting the number of TV sets that were sold or alienated in the previous licensing year must be sent to the SABC.