If you want to buy a new TV, you must have a valid TV licence with you.

This needs to be checked by the retailer you are buying the TV from, but on high-traffic days like Black Friday, this can lead to bottlenecks.

South Africans got a taste of this in recent years, when the demand for TV sales during Black Friday took down the SABC’s TV licence system.

This prevented stores from selling TVs during their Black Friday sales, and caused major frustration for shoppers.

System upgrades

To find out what the retailers have planned for 2018 to ensure this issue does not happen again, MyBroadband contacted the biggest brand in the country.

Massmart – which oversees Makro, Dion Wired, and Game – confirmed that every sale of a TV at its stores must have a valid TV licence attached to it.

“Therefore, if the system crashes, we will be unable to issue licenses and as a result, we will not sell televisions,” said the company.

“In preparation for Black Friday, we, along with other big retail players, had a meeting with the SABC. Following the meeting, the SABC advised us that they have upgraded their system,” said Massmart.

“As a further measure, our divisions are busy implementing internal load tests with our IT systems and will provide feedback to the SABC.”