BREAKING. ''We haven't seen business plans from the SABC on the News24 news channel, the sports channel or DTT. - National Treasury.

The National Treasury told the government today in parliament that the SABC - which now wants almost R7 billion in additional funding for the next 3 years - has not even submitted any comprehensive business plans for the South African public broadcaster's proposed new 24 hour news TV channel (which it calls News24, its proposed digital sports TV channel, or for digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration.

The National Treasury is also still waiting for the turnaround strategy business plan for SABC3 in terms of content management.

''We have not seen comprehensive business plans for the News24 news channel of the SABC, for the digital sports channel that's proposed for DTT, even for DTT, the National Treasury chief director Avril Halstead told parliament's portfolio committee on communications today.

''It's quite difficult to justify that financing should be allocated to those things, especially when the information that we are receiving - for instance on the News24 - that the SABC has done research on the experience in other countries that have indicated that other countries had experienced that it's loss making and then only later become profitable,'' Avril Halstead said.

''Given the SABC's financial position we're concerned that if we invest in something like that, we need to know exactly what we're investing in, when it's going to turn-around, and when it's going to be a profitable venture and don't continue to be a drain on the SABC. Those are the things we are still looking for,'' said Avril Halstead.

ALSO READ: ''Inconsistencies'' in the way the SABC is communicating, for instance on the SABC's planned new 24 hour news channel News24.