The SABC lied to millions of affected South African TV viewers when saying the move of the public broadcaster’s only Afrikaans TV news bulletin to SABC3 is "temporary" and that it would return to SABC2 on 14 July, and is lying again saying drastic schedule changes to SABC2 and SABC3 has nothing to do with Afrikaans.
Viewers are fuming and are confused over not
just the major programming shift of programmes from SABC2 to SABC3 but also
where programmes moved to on SABC3, where various shows are now on SABC2, and
what the new timeslots are.
Meanwhile millions of TV households in South
Africa can no longer watch the SABC's sole Afrikaans TV news bulletin or shows
like Pasella, 50/50 or current affairs show Fokus
along with any Afrikaans drama series.
SABC3's signal footprint is the
smallest of the SABC's three TV channels and cannot be received by
millions of viewers who simply don't get the analogue terrestrial signal.
According to parastatal signal distributor at
least 8 million South African TV households don't have satellite TV or pay-TV
on which the SABC's TV channels are carried digitally.
These households' TV
reception depend on whether they live close enough to a possible terrestrial
transmission tower broadcasting SABC1, SABC2 or SABC3 or any combination of
these.
While the SABC told advertisers and sponsors last month that the Afrikaans TV news, drama slot and the bulk of Afrikaans TV programming
will be moving from SABC2 to SABC3 permanently from after the 2014 FIFA World
Cup, the SABC told the public the move of the Afrikaans news is only temporary.
The SABC issued a statement about the "temporary changes" in June, and kept
broadcasting on-air promos in which the SABC specifically told viewers they
would be able to see the Afrikaans news again on SABC2 at 19:00 from 14 July.
On 14 July the SABC announced the Afrikaans TV news is staying on SABC3 and in the 19:30 timeslot, as well as the other
permanent programming moves and scheduling changes.
Earlier this week the SABC said the drastic
and already controversial schedule changes has nothing to do with Afrikaans.
TV with Thinus has an international memorandum
from the SABC – the motivation for the SABC's TV schedule changes – sent on 30
June by the SABC's general manager for TV channels, clearly showing that the
SABC2 and SABC3 changes are specifically related to language, Afrikaans
viewers, and the ratings performance of the SABC's Afrikaans programming.
The internal SABC memorandum contains
extensive market research about Afrikaans media consumers, Afrikaans viewers
and the viewing patterns and viewership ratings of Afrikaans viewers which
forms the basis of the motivation of the SABC to move the Afrikaans news and
other programming to SABC3.
It's also clear from the internal memorandum that the content schedule shift was
planned since last year when the SABC held a content summit.
The SABC also knew that SABC3 is also not as
widely received as a terrestrial broadcast TV signal as SABC2 but calls it "a
current minor challenge" in the memorandum.
Leo Manne, the SABC's general manager for TV
channels, wrote in the 15 page memorandum that "the roll out of both digital
terrestrial television (DTT) and direct-to home (DTH) within a year will ensure
that any areas not covered by our current transmitter network are filled".
"This
current minor challenge though cannot and should not deter the SABC from
protecting its current business".
The SABC was asked why the broadcaster in TV promos told viewers the Afrikaans news would return when the broadcaster knew it wasn't the case, and how the SABC wants millions of TV households to see the programming that moved on SABC3 if they don't and have never had access to the channel.
The SABC declined to provide answers to these and other questions.
