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SABC

SABC at risk of collapse

A proposed restructuring of South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC by the country’s Communications & Digital Technology parliamentary committee has been stopped by the nation’s Communications minister Solly Malatsi. The move has led to criticism that the proposal will “sound the death knell” for the broadcaster. SABC is widely understood to be near-bankruptcy. The complaints are […]

November 13, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC+ adds 500,000 new users

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC has added 500,000 new registered users to its free SABC+ streaming service in three months. The revamped service was launched on July 3rd offers ‘catch-up’ content, VoD and live streaming of SABC’s television and radio channels. SABC said a combination of programming including the Paris summer Olympic Games, the Cote […]

October 23, 2024By Chris Forrester

Minister intervenes in SABC/Sentech row

South Africa’s communications minister Solly Malatsi has intervened in the increasingly bitter row between South African public broadcaster SABC and the nation’s broadcasting transmission company, Sentech. SABC is objecting to the fees Sentech is levying to carry the broadcaster’s signals across the country. In his statement, Malatsi claimed that 3 million South Africans were “at […]

October 10, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC staff threaten strike

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 […]

March 22, 2024By Chris Forrester

BBC Studios, SABC launch BBC Primetime on S3

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 […]

March 20, 2024

SABC hit by internal scandal

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 […]

February 15, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC complains over transmission costs

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 […]

February 9, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC Bill suffers backlash

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 […]

January 29, 2024By Chris Forrester

Protests against SABC proposals

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, […]

January 23, 2024By Chris Forrester

SABC funding not in place

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) […]

January 17, 2024By Chris Forrester