Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's public broadcaster far under-delivers on the required quota of programming on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 that it is supposed to broadcast during prime time.
The SABC is mandated by the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), to broadcast a certain number of hours during prime time in languages other than English.
The SABC, according to the SABC's 2024/'25 annual report, fails to do this and is in breach of the quotas set in this regard by Icasa.
The SABC is supposed to broadcast 18:12 hours per week during prime time in languages other than English on SABC1. Yet SABC1 only managed to broadcast 6:56 hours.
The SABC is supposed to broadcast 19:36 hours per week during prime time in languages other than English on SABC2. Yet SABC2 only managed to broadcast 4:03 hours.
The SABC is supposed to broadcast 10:06 hours per week during prime time in languages other than English on SABC3. Yet SABC3 only managed to broadcast a paltry 3:58 hours.
According to Nomsa Chabeli, SABC CEO, the financially struggling public broadcaster doesn't have the money to acquire and make the content in other languages in order to reach these Icasa quotas.
Nomsa Chabeli told parliament's portfolio committee on communications that SABC1 and SABC2 as the "bedrock of our TV business in revenue and audience underperforms".
In May, SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli said that "Come August, we are launching a new telenovela called Pimville on SABC2, and based on that we will be really driving that audience share back to SABC2".
This didn't happen and Nomsa Chabeli said nothing about it again.
In a media query last week the SABC was asked why Pimville Queens failed to start on SABC2 in August and why there haven't been any further updates about this. The SABC didn't respond to the media query.
