Phumzile Zonke, SABC1 channel head, on Wednesday night admitted that the channel as part of the broader, struggling South African public broadcaster, is finding itself it a precariously bad position but is doing the best with the little money it has.
At a glitzy press event at Katy' Palace Bar in Sandton, Johannesburg, Phumzile Zonke said that SABC1 will look at doing more programming and explore different avenues with producers in terms of advertiser-funded programming (AFPs) and trying to increase advertising revenue.
Despite the massive financial difficulty at the SABC and a lack of money to procure the annual slate of new content the broadcaster used to churn out, SABC1 remains the most watched TV channel in South Africa.
SABC1 did a media event for Johannesburg media for its new shows Makoti, Agent, Now or Never and It Takes a Village.and reality shows Emasisweni and Instapreneurs.
"Look our situation is dire but that does not mean we have to fold our arms. A lot of our viewers, whom by the way surpass most of our rivals, rely on us to produce, curate and unleash productive content," said Phumzile Zonke.
"Our strategy as the whole team is to work with the little we have in our coffers but at the same time this launch, after a while, means that we're ready to engage with stakeholders from advertising to sponsorships in an effort to increase our budget for productions".
"As a leading youth television brand in Southern Africa and South Africa's official storyteller, it gives us great joy and pride to launch these new shows and new seasons on our channel as a start of many more to come to our screen in the next few months."
