Johannesburg — BROADCASTER e.tv is attempting to interdict the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) from implementing new regulations which will govern TV broadcasting, claiming they are flawed and irrational.

E.tv's application, if successful, could delay the introduction of new digital television channels, possibly for months. SA is in the process of migrating from analogue TV broadcasting to digital , which will allow for more TV channels.

This process is planned to conclude in April 2012, according to Icasa's regulations. In the migration period, signals are broadcast in both analogue and digital -- a system known as "dual illumination".

However, digital terrestrial TV (DTT) cannot be introduced without regulations, and it is these regulations, published last month, that e.tv is objecting to.

"The basis of this application is that e.tv and others similarly situated are bound by regulations the application of which leads to ... absurdity and unreasonableness and gives rise to fundamental unfairness," e.tv's chief operating officer Bronwyn Keene- Young said in her affidavit.

Keene-Young said the regulations would require e.tv to contract with a signal distributor, Sentech, that has an effective monopoly, dramatically diminishing e.tv's bargaining power.

She said Icasa has failed to regulate signal distribution tariffs before embarking on the DTT process. E.tv has also objected to having to broadcast in three official languages simultaneously.

It complains that Icasa has set up the j oint s pectrum advisory committee to govern the dual illumination process without a dispute resolution mechanism. It also wants public participation when Icasa allocates new channels to broadcasters.

Icasa spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela said the regulator was still going through e.tv's court papers.