SABC — BrandWiki

SABC

Overview

South African Broadcasting Corporation

owner
type	Terrestrial television and radio network
country	South Africa
available	South Africa Also reachable in nearby countries Botswana Eswatini Lesotho Mozambique Namibia Zimbabwe
founded	August 1, 1936
founder	the Government of South Africa
motto	Vuka Sizwe ("Nation Arise") "Everywhere For Everyone, Always"
broadcast area	South Africa

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (AM/FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general public.[4] It is one of the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises and the biggest state broadcaster in Africa.

Opposition politicians and civil society often criticise the SABC, accusing it of being a mouthpiece for whichever political party is in majority power, thus currently the ruling African National Congress; during the apartheid era it was accused of playing the same role for the National Party government.[5]

Company history

Early years

Radio broadcasting in South Africa began in 1923, under the auspices of South African Railways, before three radio services were licensed: the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies (AS&TS) in

key people	Khathutshelo Mike Ramukumba (chairman)‡R1R‡ Nomsa Chabeli‡R1R‡ (CEO)

revenue	R5.1billion (2024)‡R2R‡

net income	−R198million‡R3R‡

launch date	1936 (radio) 1976 (television)

headquarters	Johannesburg, South Africa

servicename1	Television

service1	SABC 1 SABC 2 SABC 3 SABC NEWS SABC LEHAE SABC Education SABC Children SABC Sport SABC Encore

servicename2	Radio

service2	19 radio stations

website	https://www.sabc.co.za/sabc/

Recent history

An IBA report on the state of the broadcasting industry in South Africa was released on 29 August 1995. Recommendations were given for the SABC to lose one of its three television channels, with the network being used for private television, demanding the creation of two or three private networks. The broadcaster would be restructured, and Sentech would be separated. Other recommendations included the sale of seven radio stations, while being granted eleven radio stations, nine of which in individual Bantu languages, provisions of an hour a day of regional programming windows on television and radio, at an estimated cost of 262 million rand/year, reintroduction of a third channel but on satellite television and the provision of an "education and information driven service" to the subcontinental region.[11]

All of the channels were set to be rebranded by March 1996, in line with a restructuring that began in the 1993 CODESA talks. Preliminary changes were set to take place in 1993, but were delayed after the elections in April 1994.[12]

In November 1995, Africa Monitor reported that the SABC was in talks with Channel 4 to deliver its television channels by satellite, to cover the entire population. Up until then, it was believed that a quarter of the national population received at least one of the three channels. By January 1996 a fourth channel carrying Channel 4's programmes was set to begin, and would convert to digital in July 1996, with the aim of creating an eight-channel pay-TV service.[13]

At the end of 1995, the SABC lost its contract with Sky News. Footage on news bulletins broadcast by the corporation's television channels was now supplied by BBC World.[14]

On 4 February 1996, two years after the ANC came to power, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels, so as to be more representative of different language groups.[15] The repositioning of the networks gave the SABC's television service the chance to be "the new voice and the new vision of the rainbow nation". Under the new structure, SABC TV was compared to a "tower of Babel" regarding SABC 1 and SABC 2's programming structure, in the eleven official languages, while SABC 3 was all in English. The relaunch party was also heavily criticised by some, such as Angela Van Schalkwyk, who mentioned that an American face presented the new television offer.[16] This resulted in the downgrading of Afrikaans by reducing its airtime from 50% to 15%, a move that alienated many Afrikaans speakers.[17] Starting July 1997, the corporation was commercialised.[18]

In late 1998, the SABC finally started broadcasting its channels on DStv, per an agreement with Sentech to convert its channels to digital. The agreement encompassed its three national terrestrial networks, Bop TV and its thirteen radio stations, with the hopes of starting two pan-continental television networks, an entertainment channel and a news channel.[19]

The launch of e.tv prompted the SABC to restructure its three television channels in late September 1998. The strategies were due to e.tv's promise that the service would be a "full-spectrum" channel as opposed to the niche programming of both the SABC and M-Net. SABC 1 repositioned itself as an entertainment channel for South African youth and young adults, SABC 2 would carry content related to educational and social issues from the rest of Africa to South African audiences, SABC 3 concentrated on a mix of news, current affairs and entertainment.[20] Two satellite channels, available on DStv, opened on 16 November 1998, SABC Africa and Best of Africa (later renamed Africa2Africa).[21]

In line with its ambitions to be "the pulse of Africa's creative spirit" (SABC's tagline at the turn of the millennium), the SABC opened up to protocols and co-operation agreements with partners such as URTNA, FRU and the Television Trust for the Environment, eyeing in at the rest of Africa.[22]

On 8 August 2003, the SABC unveiled its current logo, coinciding with the Your SABC campaign, which was unveiled on its three television channels at 7:30pm that day. Simultaneously, the Topsport brand was ditched in favour of SABC Sport.[23]

The SABC has since been accused of favouring the ruling ANC party, mostly in news. It remains dominant in the broadcast media.

Criticism intensified around 2003–2005, when it was accused of a wide range of shortcomings including self-censorship, lack of objectivity and selective news coverage.

On 20 October 2020, SABC and the government were in discussion to get TV and streaming providers in South Africa to collect TV licence on their behalf.[24]

On 27 March 2021, SABC and eMedia Investments expanded their partnership which allowed OpenView customers to receive 3 additional channels as well as their 19 radio stations.[25]

Radio

Establishment

Following its establishment in 1936, the SABC established services in what were then the country's official languages, English and Afrikaans, with the Afrikaans service being established in 1937.[26] Broadcasts in languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho and Tswana followed in 1940.[8]

Springbok Radio

Springbok Radio, the SABC's first commercial radio service, started broadcasting on 1 May 1950.[27] Bilingual in English and Afrikaans, it broadcast from the Johannesburg Centre for 113 1/2 hours a week.[28] The service proved to be so popular with advertisers that at the time of its launch, commercial time had been booked well in advance.[7]

The station featured a wide variety of programming, such as morning talk and news, game shows, soap operas like Basis Bravo,[27] children's programming, music request programmes, top-ten music, talent shows and other musical entertainment. One popular Saturday noontime comedy show was Telefun Time, whose hosts would phone various people and conjure up situation comedy, a similar brand of humour to the films of Leon Schuster.[29]

By 1985, Springbok Radio was operating at a heavy loss.[30] After losing many listeners with the handing over of its shortwave frequencies to Radio 5 and facing competition from television, it ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1985.[31]

SABC News Service

The News Service was established in June 1950, replacing the programmes of the BBC.[32] Although this was because the BBC broadcasts were seen as giving a British viewpoint of current affairs, there were also concerns that the SABC service would become overly pro-government, or "Our Master's Voice".[33] By 1968, it had over 100 full-time reporters in the main cities and local correspondents all over the country, with overseas news provided by Reuters, AFP, AP and UPI.[34] There was a News Film Unit which, prior to television in 1976, produced films for news agencies and television organisations.[35]

SABC Symphony Orchestra

The SABC Symphony Orchestra has its origins in its three studio ensembles in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and the Municipal Orchestra of the Johannesburg City Council. When the SABC centralised its broadcasting in Johannesburg, the future of the three ensembles were in doubt but at the same time, the Municipal Orchestra of the Johannesburg City Council had been disbanded.[36] The SABC was able to form an orchestra of 80 musicians from these groupings in 1954, and while its main base was at the Johannesburg City Hall, it would tour the country.[37] The orchestra would be led for many years by the SABC's head of music, Anton Hartman, but had other conductors as well, such as Francesco Mander and Edgar Cree.[38] There were also international composers such as Igor Stravinsky.[39] The SABC Junior Orchestra was also created and began in February 1966 under Walter Mony.[40]

Regional radio

Regional commercial FM music stations were started in the 1960s.

Popular music

Following the establishment of a republic and withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, the Afrikaners' goal was to promote their culture and so, at first, the SABC's choice of popular music reflected the National Party government's initial conservatism, especially on the Afrikaans channel, with musicians such as Nico Carstens. However Carstens was also ostracised by the SABC, as his music was influenced by the Coloured and Malay communities of Cape Town.[41]

Eventually, musicians broke through the barrier, when the young, English-speaking Jewish musician and composer, Charles Segal collaborated with the older Afrikaans lyric-writer, Anton Dewaal, to write songs.[42] Segal's songs like "Die Ou Kalahari" became highly popular with the Afrikaans-speaking public.[43] However, there was tight censorship over all broadcasts, particularly of pop music, with, for example, the music of the Beatles being banned by the SABC between 1966 and March 1971.[44]

1996 restructuring

In 1996 the SABC carried out a significant restructuring of their services. The main English-language radio service became SAfm. The new service, after some initial faltering, soon developed a respectable listenership and was regarded as a flagship for the new democracy. However, government interference in the state broadcaster in 2003 saw further changes to SAfm which reversed the growth and put it in rapid decline once more. Today it attracts only 0.6% of the total population to its broadcasts. The main Afrikaans radio service was renamed Radio Sonder Grense (literally 'Radio Without Borders') in 1995 and has enjoyed greater success with the transition.

By contrast, SABC Radio's competitors, like Primedia-owned Radio 702, Cape Talk and 94.7 Highveld Stereo have grown steadily in audience and revenue, while other stations such as the black-owned and focused YFM and Kaya FM have also attracted black audiences.

Programming policy

As of 12 May 2016, the SABC has implemented a policy to promote local content. 90% of all music played on the broadcaster's 18 radio stations will be sourced from local artists with a focus on kwaito, jazz, reggae and gospel genres.[48]

Station list

Television

Early history (1975–1995)

In 1975, after years of controversy over the introduction of television, the SABC was finally allowed to introduce a colour TV service, which began experimental broadcasts in the main cities on 5 May 1975, before the service went nationwide on 6 January 1976. Initially, the TV service was funded entirely through a licence fee just like the UK, but began advertising in 1978. The SABC (both Television and Radio) is still partly funded by the licence fee (currently R250 a year).

The service initially broadcast only in English and Afrikaans, with an emphasis on religious programming on Sundays.[49] A local soap opera, The Villagers, set on a gold mine, was well received while other local productions like The Dingleys were panned as amateurish.[50]

The majority of acquired programming on South African television came from the United States, although owing to their opposition to apartheid, some production companies stopped selling programmes to the country.[51] The British actors' union Equity had already started a boycott of programme sales to South Africa, which was not lifted until 1993.[52] However, the Thames Television police drama series The Sweeney and Van der Valk, were briefly shown on SABC TV,[53] as was the original version of Thunderbirds.[50]

Many imported programmes were dubbed into Afrikaans and other indigenous languages, but in 1985, in order to accommodate English speakers, the SABC began to simulcast the original-language audio of series on an FM radio service called Radio 2000, allowing viewers to watch them in the original language; the first English-language series to be simulcast was Miami Vice.[54]

SABC TV also produced lavish musical shows featuring the most popular South African composers, solo musicians, bands and orchestras. For example, the pianist and composer, Charles Segal, was given a half-hour special show: The Music of Charles Segal, where a selection of his music was performed by various local artists, such as Zane Adams, SABC Orchestra and others. However, it also broadcast pop music series like Pop Shop, which consisted of overseas and local music, and Double Track, which consisted entirely of local acts.[55]

With a limited budget, early programming aimed at children tended to be quite innovative, and programmes such as the Afrikaans-language puppet shows Haas Das se Nuus Kas and Oscar in Asblikfontein are still fondly remembered by many.[56]

On 1 January 1981, two services were introduced, TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a black urban audience.[57] The main channel, then called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. In 1986, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, taking over the frequencies used by TV2 and TV3, which then had to end broadcasting at 21:00.[58]

In 1991, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were combined into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values).[59] A third channel was introduced known as TSS, or Topsport Surplus Sport, Topsport being the brand name for the SABC's sport coverage, but this was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an educational, non-commercial channel, in 1993.[60]

Competition and restructuring

In 1986, the SABC's monopoly on the television industry was challenged by the launch of a subscription-based service known as M-Net, which was backed by a consortium of newspaper publishers. This service was prohibited from broadcasting its own news programmes, which were still the preserve of the SABC. Direct-to-home satellite television in South Africa began when M-Net's parent company, Multichoice, launched its first-in-the-world digital satellite TV service, DStv, in 1995. At the time, SABC TV channels, were not broadcast on this network, but agreements were later reached that allowed DStv to carry the SABC channels as well. In 1998, the SABC's dominance of free-to-air terrestrial television was further eroded by the launch of the first free-to-air private TV channel, e.tv.

In 1996, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels with the aim of making them more representative of the various cultural groups.[61] These new channels were called SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3. The SABC also absorbed the Bop TV channel of the former Bophuthatswana bantustan.[62] Between 1996 and 1998, the SABC had a satellite television service called AstraSat, which operated two channels, AstraSport and AstraPlus. Technological problems and advertising losses led to the scrapping of the service.[63]

New services

In 2005, the SABC announced proposed the creation of two complementary regional television channels, SABC4 and SABC5, to emphasise indigenous languages.[68] SABC4, based in Mafikeng, was to be broadcast in Tswana, Sesotho, Pedi, Tsonga, Venda, and Afrikaans, to the northern provinces of the country, while SABC5, based in Cape Town, was to broadcast in Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, and Swazi, as well as Afrikaans, to the southern provinces. Unlike other SABC TV services, SABC4 and SABC5 were not to be available via satellite.[69] Apart from soundbites on news or current affairs programmes, no English-language programming would be shown on either channel.[70] However, the plans fell through and in 2015, the SABC stated that it would launch two new channels, SABC News and SABC Encore.[71]

In 2013, the SABC announced plans to launch a new news channel, SABC News, to be available on DStv, instead of waiting for the introduction of

Reception outside South Africa

Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini

SABC television via satellite had also been widely available in neighbouring Lesotho and Eswatini, as well as Botswana.[80] During the AstraSat period, SABC 1 and SABC 3 had more audience than Swazi TV, as locals believed the service to be biased and underdeveloped. When the shutdown of AstraSat signals began on 11 September 2000 with SABC 3, the audience was deprived of its access, revealing the limitations of the Swazi media structure.[81] After complaints from rights holders in Botswana, SABC encrypted its TV channels, thereby cutting off viewers in those countries.[82]

Namibia

Until 1979, the SABC operated broadcasting services in Namibia, which was then under South African rule, but in that year, these were transferred to the South West African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC).[83] However, the SWABC retained technical personnel from the SABC, and a number of its programmes were prepared at the SABC's studios in Johannesburg before being dispatched to Windhoek for transmission.[84]

The SABC also helped the SWABC to establish a television service in 1981.[85] This comprised a mix of programming in English, Afrikaans and German, 90 per cent of which came from or via the SABC.[86] Programmes were shown locally a week after South Africa.[87] The SWABC received SABC TV programming (which it recorded, edited and rebroadcast) first by using a microwave link, and later via an Intelsat satellite link.[88] The SWABC became the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) after the country's independence in 1990.

However, Walvis Bay, an enclave of South Africa in Namibia until 1994, received the SABC's TV1 on a low-power repeater, which was broadcast live via Intelsat from 1986.[87]

Mozambique

The cable company TV Cabo (Visabeira) offered SABC 1, SABC 3 and Bop TV in its first few years of operation.[89] These alongside e.tv were removed due to rights issues, in a situation similar to what would happen in Botswana ten years later, being replaced by other channels from the DStv bouquet, in August 2003,[90] causing uproar from subscribers.[91][92]

Criticisms and controversies

Accusations of pro-ANC bias

The SABC has been accused of being a government and ruling party mouthpiece, particularly in the lead-up to the 2014 South African elections,[97][98] particularly after it refused to air the campaign adverts of various opposition parties,[99][100] and again in 2015 when it censored the video feeds of the 2015 State of the Nation address that portrayed the ANC and President Jacob Zuma in a negative light.[101] In 2015, Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi reinforced the notion that the SABC was a state-owned company, and therefore, subject to control by the Department of Communications and the ruling party.[102]

In August 2005, the SABC came under heavy fire from independent media and the public for failing to broadcast footage in which deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed offstage by members of the ANC Youth League, who were showing support for the newly axed ex-deputy president, Jacob Zuma.[103]

Rival broadcaster e.tv publicly accused SABC of biased reporting for failing to show the video footage of the humiliated deputy president. Snuki Zikalala, Head of News and ex-ANC spokesperson retorted that their cameraman had not been present at the meeting. This claim was later established to be false when e.tv footage was released which showed an SABC cameraman filming the incident.[104]

The SABC's government connections also came under scrutiny when, in April 2005, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was interviewed live by Zikalala, who is a former ANC political commissar.[105] The interview was deemed by the public to have sidestepped 'critical issues', and to have avoided difficult questions regarding Mugabe's radical land-reform policies and human rights violations.

Accusations of censorship

In May 2006, the SABC was accused of self-censorship when it decided not to air a documentary on South African president Thabo Mbeki, and in early June 2006, the news organisation requested that the producers (from Daylight Films) not speak about it. This was widely criticised by independent media groups.[106] In response, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange issued an alert concerning the SABC's apparent trend toward self-censorship.[107]

In June 2006, the International Federation of Journalists denounced the cancelling of the Thabo Mbeki documentary, citing "self-censorship" and "politically-influenced managers".[108]

Also in June 2006, SAfm host John Perlman disclosed on air that the SABC had created a blacklist of commentators.[109] A commission of inquiry was created by SABC CEO Dali Mpofu to investigate the allegations that individuals had been blacklisted at the behest of Zikalala.

SABC Encore's launch party

At the channel's launch event, the COO of SABC at the time used that event to rant about making pay-TV platforms like MultiChoice's DStv pay for SABC 1-3 and how the SABC is run by a 'blind person'. He also took the stage to call out those with their 'lack of knowledge' over the deal the public broadcaster has for the channel alongside SABC News.[123]