South Africa’s SABC public broadcaster has its staff deadlocked in what are long running pay negotiations. The powerful Communication Workers Union (CWU) is now threatening a full blown strike. SABC and CWU have been talking since July 2023 about a pay rise. SABC offered 6 per cent, which was accepted by the CWU but the […]

BBC Studios and South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have announced BBC Primetime, a new content block for the S3 channel, featuring a selection of award-winning dramas, factual entertainment and documentaries from BBC Studios’ catalogue. BBC Primetime will be available to watch weeknights between 21:00 and 23:00 on S3 and on SABC+ from May and is […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC has seen three executives resign or be suspended with allegations of being involved in a “secret” contract which gave them a profit share related to the launch of SABC+. SABC COO Ian Plaatjes, group executive for video entertainment Merlin Naicker, and group executive for sales Reginald Nxumalo, allegedly concealed a […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, is taking the country’s transmission operator Sentech to the Competition Tribunal, alleging excessive pricing and anti-competitive actions. Doris Tshepe, head of the country’s Competition Commission, told MPs that a commission-led effort to mediate between the parties had failed. The MPs on the country’s Committee on Communications & Digital Technologies heard […]

There are strong objections to South Africa’s proposed SABC Bill for the nation’s public broadcaster and it must be withdrawn, report local media organisations. Three influential organisations have criticised the new Bill. SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) collectively made a submission to the […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is out of cash, and the government has presented a new SABC Bill which proposes examining the existing licence fee, which is widely ignored. The new Bill aims to “regulate the continued existence of the SABC to provide public broadcasting services that contribute to democracy, development of society, gender equality, […]

South Africa’s SABC public broadcaster is in dire financial straits, but a government initiative to see funding secured is far from certain. A new SABC Bill, which was open to public discussion until January 16th, is not likely to be resolved and converted into cash for some time. South Africa’s ‘Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’ (Outa) […]

SABC, South Africa’s public broadcaster – currently in serious debt – has hired Nomsa Chabeli, the former General Manager of telco MTN as its new CEO. Chabeli was also previously marketing director of MultiChoice’s SuperSport and DStv divisions. SABC stated: “[Chabeli] also has a credible history of developing persuasive and highly influential brand messaging that […]

South Africa’s deputy communications minister Philly Mapulane has told the country’s parliament that public broadcaster SABC is not only technically insolvent but owes broadcasting transmission distributor Sentech more than Rand 700 million (about $35.5m) – around half of Sentech’s annual revenue. SABC presented its financial plan to government for 2023-2024 on November 7th. The presentation […]

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is reportedly “teetering on the edge of financial collapse”. SABC’s CFO Yolande van Biljon has written to the SABC Board of Directors warning that the broadcaster is facing a very real risk of requiring a business rescue such is the shortage of funding. She added that without urgent intervention, the […]