by Thinus Ferreira
The projected roll-out and launch plan of SABC+ as the South African public broadcaster's own planned video streaming service - something the broadcaster calls a "missing piece" in its digital TV strategy - is in an advanced stage although no specific date is known yet.
As global and local video streaming services are making inroads in trying to sew up subscribers in South Africa in the hotly contested over-the-top (OTT) players space, the SABC says that plans to launch its own video streaming platform are in an advanced stage.
The SABC's own public access video streaming service which it plans to bring to market within months will function in a similar way to the BBC's iPlayer in the United Kingdom.
The SABC initially said that it would be launching its own streaming service before the end of March 2022 but failed to do so.
The SABC then pushed the launch of its streamer, tentatively called SABC+, to the next financial year, with Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, who said that the SABC's streamer would launch in the third quarter of its current financial year, meaning between October and December 2022.
The SABC also said that with the launch of its streamer, it would also debut new SABC TV channels which will be carried on its streaming services, together with existing ones.
Asked for an update on the SABC's streaming service and what the envisioned launch date for the service is, Gugu Ntuli, SABC spokesperson told TVwithThinus that "the SABC will communicate in due course".
When the SABC's streaming service eventually launches it will be what is known as a late-market entrant and will face an even bigger challenge to lure users in a market where South African consumers already have access to MultiChoice's Showmax, The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ since earlier this year, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, VIU, TelkomONE, e.tv's eVOD, Britbox and AcornTV, as well as a few smaller services.
Paramount is supposed to launch its Paramount+ in 2023 in South Africa, while NBCUniversal's Peacock isn't yet available in the territory. Warner Bros. Discovery has no date for a possible launch in South Africa of its combined HBO Max and discovery+ streamers which will be rebranded and getting a new name.
In its recent latest financial report for 2021/2022, the former SABC board chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini, says that the public broadcaster remained "fully committed" to two digital television projects, one being "the launch of an SABC streaming platform".
He notes that "the SABC will implement an over-the-top (OTT) streaming strategy, with the short-term goal of leveraging online and mobile platforms to allow customers to access all SABC content and services anywhere, anytime, and on any device".
"The streaming platform will consolidate all SABC television and radio content for IP transmission over mobile and web. The potential for this platform is limitless, and remains one of the missing pieces of the SABC's distribution strategy."
"Currently, the SABC is a 'pure-play' content provider that is required to do distribution deals with third-party platforms, including Sentech, OpenView and TelkomONE. By procuring its own streaming platform, the SABC will be able to control its destiny in this regard," he says.
"It is our sincere hope that telecommunications companies will make good on their promise to drop data prices in lieu of the additional spectrum obtained through the digital dividend. At current rates, our poorer households cannot afford to stream SABC video or audio services on their mobile devices."
The SABC's 2021/2022 financial report states that the broadcaster's "plans to launch its own OTT streaming platform are advanced" and that it "will go to market during the 2022/2023 financial year.
Once it does launch "SABC content and channels on this platform will provide audiences with more choice and free-to-air services" the broadcaster says.
