Interesting is that the SABC told parliament yesterday that the South African public broadcaster is looking at developing a brand-new, what it calls, ''network strategy''.
In this ''network strategy'' the SABC - currently running 3 TV channels, SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 as the only commercial TV channel of the public broadcaster - will become more closely interlinked, integrated and be working together in future to create a programming and scheduling approach with much more synergy.
''In terms of retaining viewers we are developing a network strategy for programming,'' the SABC board said to parliament, ''because one platform can erode another platform. We are going in, looking at the platforms in a collective, so that we can retain what we're losing.''
What this means is that the SABC is not only realizing - but also for the first time admitting - that what it does on one channel, or what one TV channel tries to accomplish, often yields results, but actually creates damage for one of the other channels. While SABC2 or SABC3 for instance gain viewers, that viewership gain through a certain scheduling act, results in a net loss for the SABC overall because one of the other channels suffer. The future? Possibly less-destructive counter programming by the SABC to lessen the damage it creates to its very own other sister TV channels.
