Apparently the business channel CNBC Africa (DStv 410) received $3 million (R22,29 million) per year from the Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) for the past two years - a five year contract that has now been cancelled.
SASFED - a collective federation that represents the interest of the vast majority of film and TV industry organisations in South Africa - has welcomed the cancellation of the contract. In a press statement, SASFED indicated that the federation has expressed concern about the massive amount of the GFC's annual budget that was committed to CNBC Africa. ''This [contract] alarmed SASFED since CNBC Africa does not act to promote local content production, especially in the independent production sector. SASFED called for this money to rather be made available to Gauteng based companies in the independent production sector, if they were to survive these tough times.''
SASFED said the contract has now been cancelled. I've also asked CNBC Africa for reaction and I'm still awaiting a response.
