Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC chairperson, who spoke at the Public Broadcasting Colloquium held at the Gallagher Convention Centre, said the SABC TV Licence fee system needs to be overhauled and that licence fees needs to be increased.
His comments come after the SABC that the Auditor-General (AG) on Monday described as "commercially insolvent" just posted another R622 million loss for the financial year until the end of March 2018 and got a borrowing letter from Treasury allowing it to borrow up to another R1.2 billion more.
In May 2017 the disgraced former SABC acting CEO James Aguma before he quit, told parliament the SABC wants the Broadcasting Act changed so that people are required to have a SABC TV licence for devices like tablets, mobile phones and computers, and wanted MultiChoice to be forced to collect licence fees on behalf of the SABC as part of DStv subscriber fee billing.
On Wednesday the SABC again called for a broadening of the definition of what constitutes a "TV set", and for insurance companies and pay-TV operators like MultiChoice to help collect TV licence fees.
The SABC wants digital personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes (STBs) and TV satellite dishes included - devices that fascilitate broadcast over analogue or digital broadcast platforms.
Less than a third of South Africa's TV households bother paying a TV licence fee with the broadcaster that told parliament two weeks ago that people who get a TV set pay initially, but that the SABC has a big problem with "repeat" payers - households who never pay again.
On Thursday Bongumusa Makhathini said "the SABC strongly believes that an overhauled TV Licence Fee system can go some way to funding the public broadcasting mandate".
He said "TV licence fees still remain the second largest source of revenue for the SABC but we need to rebase the fee and strengthen the collection of this revenue."
"The SABC’s TV licence fee of R265 has remained unchanged since 2013. Currently the SABC TV licence fee costs an average of 72c a day for citizens who pay. In September 2018 I think we
can all agree that there is very little if anything you can buy for 72c a day."
"There are currently only approximately 1,8 million paying television households and businesses
out of a total of 9 million accounts on the SABC database," Bongumusa Makhathini said.
"While 1,8 million paying accounts is a relatively small percentage, we believe that a credible, trusted and properly run public broadcaster, can create a culture of increased TV licence payment."
"The SABC has submitted that a new, broadened definition of television set should be included in the Broadcasting Act. In order to enforce greater compliance on the payment of licence fees we
believe reporting obligations should be broadened to include insurance companies and pay-TV operators," said Bongumusa Makhathini.
"The SABC also recommends stricter enforcement and penalties for nonpayment
of licence fees."
He said "the only way to remain relevant and retain large audiences is for the SABC to continue to focus on making excellent television and radio content".
