Former SABC COO Ian Plaatjes fights 'hidden agenda' firing over SABC+, reveals conflict with CEO.

by Thinus Ferreira

The former SABC COO Ian Plaatjes is fighting his firing after he was axed in June over a controversial and secretive ad revenue share agreement with an external provider for the SABC+ streaming service.

Ian Plaatjes claims he was let go on fabricated charges by the broadcaster "to get rid of executives like myself".

He now reveals that as SABC COO, he and the former SABC CEO have been involved in in-fighting with Madoda Mxakwe who conducted "numerous unlawful forensic investigations" against him, which led to Plaatjes filing a grievance case against Mxakwe.

Ian Plaatjes and Merlin Naicker, the public broadcaster's former head of video entertainment, were both fired in June this year after they were found guilty in a disciplinary hearing of withholding information about an advertising revenue sharing agreement with Discover Digital that runs SABC+ on the public broadcaster's behalf.

Ian Plaatjes has now taken the SABC to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) over his June dismissal, saying he was fired because of SABC "hidden agendas" to get rid of executives like himself.

Unknown publicly until now, there had been executive in-fighting between the SABC COO and SABC CEO, with Ian Plaatjes who filed grievance charges against former SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe.

Ian Plaatjes now reveals that "The grievance which I had initiated against Madoda Mxakwe in 2023 was never properly finalised or communicated to me" and that his "grievance related to the numerous unlawful forensic investigations that were conducted against me".

"It points to the motivation for the fabricated charges which were brought against only Merlin Naicker and me and which directly resulted in our dismissal."

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, told TVwithThinus in response to a media query "The SABC can confirm that this matter is before the CCMA and will allow the CCMA process to take its course and for an appropriate finding to be made under the auspices of the CCMA".

Ian Plaatjes says he has "full confidence that the CCMA process will vindicate my conduct" as SABC COO and will "overturn the findings of the disciplinary hearing and show that charges brought against me were fabricated by the employed, motivated as they were by nefarious objectives".

According to Ian Plaatjes, his CCMA hearing on 12 September will be shown online and will be "an opportunity for the public and the media to get to the truth in the contract between the SABC and Discover Digital, and the actual reasons why the SABC wanted to get rid of executives, including myself".

"Merlin Naicker and I had sought agreement with the SABC on two occasions for the disciplinary hearing to be open to the media, as we have nothing to hide and we believe that it is in the public's interest to have access to the facts of the matter. The SABC opposed our request and the chairperson of the hearing, Prof Takalani Madima subsequently ruled against our request".

Ian Plaatjes says Prof Takalani Madima "accepted the SABC's version and found that I was guilty on one count each of gross dishonestly, failure to act in the best interests of the SABC and of violating the conditions of my suspension by communicating with the media". 

"At the heart of this matter, which will now be adjudicated by the CCMA, is whether or not I submitted a business plan regarding SABC+ which did not disclose a 7.5% share of the advertising revenue that would be garnered from the plan, between the SABC and Discover Digital".

Ian Plaatjes says that the costs were "transparent and known to all SABC executive committee members "prior to the approval of the SABC+ business plan on 10 October 2022 and a revised business plan on 7 November 2022 - including Lungile Binza, the SABC's head of technology who is currently the SABC acting COO.

"He was also personally responsible for validating these costs. All the SABC witnesses testified to this in the disciplinary hearing - evidence which was ignored."

He says "The 7.5% cost was also contained to the cost of the digital advert that was replaced and not the total cost of the revenue generated from SABC+."

Ian Plaatjes notes that "For the duration of the Discovery Digital agreement, ending in November 2023, the Castoola software was never used and therefore no costs were incurred and paid to Discover Digital related to the 7.5% clause. The SABC's charges against me are therefore not based on any facts and the reality of what occurred, but a fabricated scenario which never occurred".

Ian Plaatjes says that the SABC's disciplinary hearing against him and Merlin Naicker came "at a time that the public broadcaster is technically bankrupt. The taxpayer cannot foot the bill for the SABC's wasteful decisions with hidden agendas".

Ian Plaatjes reveals "There were numerous forensic investigations conducted against me.  None of these had the SABC board's approval nor were they conducted by independent forensic auditors".

"Madoda Mxakwe merely instructed Katlego Mpepu [SABC group executive for internal audit] and Fhatuwani Sibanda [then SABC forensic investigations manager] to conduct numerous unjustified forensic investigations against Merlin Naicker, Reggie Nxumalo [SABC ad sales boss] former and myself".

"These baseless investigations amount to irregular expenditure as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure."

"My grievance against Madoda Mxakwe was submitted to the SABC board on 19 May 2023 and was conducted by an external legal firm on 24 June 2023. However, the outcome report was never shared with me, despite my numerous requests, including on the day of my suspension, 7 February 2024."

"This sequence of events clearly violates the SABC's own HR disciplinary processes and procedures," he notes, adding that "the chairperson of the disciplinary hearing chose to totally ignore this issue".

FIRED. SABC axes COO Ian Plaatjes and head of video entertainment Merlin Naicker over secret SABC+ ad revenue kickbacks.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster has fired both its suspended chief operating officer (COO) Ian Plaatjes and suspended head of video entertainment Merlin Naicker who were both found guilty following disciplinary hearings, of failing to disclose that the external company running its SABC+ streaming service would get an advertising revenue kickback.

Ian Plaatjes and Merlin Naicker were both suspended in February after shocking revelations that Discovery Digital - the company running its SABC+ video streaming platform for the public broadcaster - is profiting from and getting an additional 7.5% of the advertising revenue made through SABC+.

Ian Plaatjes and Merlin Naicker originally told SABC executive committee members in November 2022 in their business plan that the SABC would get 100% of the advertising revenue generated by SABC+.

An investigation found that Ian Plaatjes and Merlin Naicker deliberately failed to disclose that Discover Digital would get 7.5% advertising revenue from SABC+ and hid the secret profit-sharing agreement that they had signed without the knowledge of the then-SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe.

The 7.5% payment to Discover Digital is on top of the R35 million the SABC had to pay to Discover Digital to manage SABC+.

The SABC projected that SABC+ would make between R150 million and R200 million a year in advertising revenue - of which 7.5% goes to Discovery Digital.

SABC+ as a streamer is the platform that the public broadcaster bought and took over from Telkom that got rid of its Telkom ONE streamer, and which was rebranded as SABC+.

In response to a media query, Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, confirmed to TVwithThinus that both the COO and head of video entertainment have both been fired "with immediate effect" after disciplinary hearings.

"The SABC board of directors have resolved to terminate the employment contract of Ian Plaatjes, following a disciplinary process. The board has duly considered the findings and recommendations of the report by an independent chairperson and decided to release Ian Plaatjies from his duties as the SABC's chief operating officer (COO) with immediate effect."

"The SABC can also confirm that Merlin Naicker, the group executive for video entertainment, is also released from his duties with immediate effect following a disciplinary hearing."

ALSO READ: SABC COO Ian Plaatjes and TV boss Merlin Naicker suspended, ad boss Reginald Nxumalo resigns over undisclosed 7.5% profit-share deal with Discover Digital running SABC+.

CWU notifies SABC of strike in wage dispute, demands investigation into secret Discover Digital profit-sharing deal for SABC+.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Communications Workers' Union (CWU) has warned the beleaguered South African public broadcaster that its members will strike and demanding a swift investigation into the broadcaster's secret profit-sharing deal with Discover Digital running its SABC+ video streaming service.

The CWU's ongoing wage dispute and planned strike could have serious consequences for the broadcaster in a national election year with any strike action or labour issues that could impact the SABC's election news coverage.

While the Bemawu trade union has accepted a 6% wage increase offer, the CWU is holding out for its initial 9% wage increase, backdated to 1 April 2023. The SABC which made yet another R1.13 billion loss last year, has said it cannot do salary increases.

The CWU plans to go to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to get clarity on the picketing regulations for its planned SABC strike.

Nathan Bowers, CWU bargaining coordinator, in a statement, says the CWU is also demanding an investigation following the suspension of SABC COO Ian Plaatjes and head of video entertainment Merlin Naicker and the resignation of sales boss Reginald Nxumalo after revelations of a secretive 7.5% profit-sharing deal with Discover Digital that runs the broadcaster's SABC+ video streaming service.

The CWU says it demands "for the investigation to be expedited and serious consequences to follow".

"The revelation comes as workers who are members of CWU are in deadlock over the salary increase. The SABC continues to plead poverty while allegations of concealing profit are out there in the media."

"Workers have not had a salary increase for over three years and every time there are financial losses or financial crisis, workers have to become the scapegoat and bear the brunt through no salary increases," Bowers says.

"The plundering of the financial resources of the SABC through shady contracts and unaccounted fruitless and wasteful expenditure every financial year cannot continue and used as an excuse not to give workers a salary increase and their backdated pay. As CWU we will still continue to defend our public broadcaster by keeping an eye on all these questionable deals from all angles."

"While CWU welcomes the suspension of the two executives, we are further calling on the SABC to also place the chief financial officer Yolande Van Biljon on precautionary suspension."

Nathan Bowers says Van Biljon "also has to answer during the investigation as the person who holds the purse of the SABC. As CWU we want to know how the 7.5% slipped through her fingers in this digital deal".

ALSO READ: SABC COO Ian Plaatjes and TV boss Merlin Naicker suspended, ad boss Reginald Nxumalo resigns over undisclosed 7.5% profit-share deal with Discover Digital running SABC+.

SABC COO Ian Plaatjes and TV boss Merlin Naicker suspended, ad boss Reginald Nxumalo resigns over undisclosed 7.5% profit-share deal with Discover Digital running SABC+.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster's COO Ian Plaatjes and head of video entertainment Merlin Naicker have both been suspended, with the SABC's ad sales boss Peginald Nxumalo resigned when he heard about his impending suspension, following their failure to disclose a 7.5% profit-share deal with Discover Digital that runs the broadcaster's SABC+ video streaming service.

In an internal memo on 7 February the SABC told staffers that COO Ian Plaatjes and head of video entertainment Merlin Naicker have been suspended this week in news first reported by City Press on Sunday.

Their suspensions came after legal advice from the Werkmans law firm. 

The Werkmans legal opinion comes after the SABC did its own internal audit into the secretive profit-sharing deal that came to the conclusion that the three executives failed to act in the SABC's best financial interests.

According to Werksmans Ian Plaatjes, Merlin Naicker and Reginald Nxumalo allegedly deliberately concealed the crucial information of the 7.5% profit-share agreement from the SABC's executive committee during their presentation of the deal, before it was signed and also misled the committee when they said the public broadcaster would get 100% of the advertising revenue made through SABC+.

Werkmans found a prima facie case for gross dishonesty by Ian Plaatjes, Merli Naicker and Reggie Nxumalo in the SABC+ deal with Discover Digital.

Lungile Binza is now acting SABC COO and Lala Tuku, SABC head of local content, is now acting head of video entertainment. The SABC failed to make any public announcement about the high-level suspensions to the public.

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson in response to a media query told TVwithThinus "The SABC is as a matter of principle not at liberty to discuss matters pertaining to an employer-employee relationship in the public space".

Ian Plaatjes, Merlin Naicker and Reginald Nxumalo allegedly concealed the additional 7.5% profit-share agreement from the SABC executive committee in the deal that the SABC agreed to with Discovery Digital for SABC+. 

Discover Digital ran Telkom's Telkom ONE streaming service which was taken over by the SABC. The SABC has a R35 million contract with Discovery Digital, renewable for 5 years, to run SABC+ as its over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service.

The SABC projected to initially make between R100 and R200 million with SABC+.

Ian Plaatjes, Merlin Naicker and Reginald Nxumalo signed the deal with the profit-sharing clause without the SABC's head of legal Nthuthuzela Vanana and Madoda Mxakwe who was acting SABC CEO at the time.

In the internal SABC memo sent to staff this week, the SABC said Ian Plaatjes and Merlin Naicker are on a "leave of absence" and that "management urges staff to give Lungile Binza and Lala Tuku the necessary support as they assume these roles" of acting SABC COO and head of video entertainment.

The controversial 7.5% profit-share agreement that was apparently kept secret, came to light when Ntuthuzelo Vanana asked what the specific clause meant.

According to Werkmans, the SABC business plan for SABC+ that was presented to the SABC's executive committee members during a meeting on 7 November 2022, stipulated that the SABC would get 100% of the revenue generated by SABC+, which used to be Telkom One.

The committee approved this proposal, but then the SABC's legal division picked up and queried the appearance of the 7.5% advertising revenue sharing clause on 16 November 2022 during the contract drafting process.

According to Werkmans, Ian Plaatjes and Stephen Watson, Discover Digital managing director, then allegedly told the SABC that the 7.5% advertising revenue share was part of the SABC+ deal. 

Ian Plaatjes signed the SABC+ deal with Discover Digital a day later on 17 November 2022, meaning that Discovery Digital gets a 7.5% of the advertising revenue made through SABC+, above the company's quoted fees.

According to Werkmans, Merlin Naicker misrepresented his own involvement in the 7.5% revenue profit-share agreement and failed to make sure that all costs related to the creation of SABC+ were clearly defined and accounted for.

Werkmans found that Merlin Naicker "During the contract drafting phase, was copied in emails between the legal department, the group chief operating officer Ian Plaatjes and Discover Digital. Evidently, he was privy to the discussion with respect to the 7.5% ad insertion clause in the contract and failed to query its inclusion as it contradicted the approved business plan."

According to Werkmans Reginald Nxumalo "was aware of the 7.5% as a number but could not join the dots on what it was for. His response was tantamount to withholding vital information".

Werksmans found that "After the COO, via an email of 15 March 2023 identified the group executive for sales as one of the persons who were involved in the negotiations of the 7.5% advertising revenue share, he confirmed his involvement as a member of a committee to the Telkom One contract negotiations, notwithstanding his previous lack of knowledge of what the 7.5% was for".

"Especially since the 7.5% is in addition to the fee paid to Discover Digital for managing the SABC+ platform, this was a significant cost item that should not have fallen through the cracks."

SABC, StarTimes and StarSat sublicense full 2023 Afcon tournament from New World TV widening the cracks in MultiChoice's SuperSport dominance.

by Thinus Ferreira

In a challenge to the sports content dominance of MultiChoice and SuperSport, the South African public broadcaster and China's StarTimes have sublicensed respectively the free-to-air (FTA) and pay-TV rights to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

For the first time since 1992, SuperSport won't show the 2023 Afcon tournament, increasing the number of cracks forming in terms of content that the pay-TV sports brand no longer has - especially African sports content although it's a pan-African pay-TV broadcaster.

Not having the 2023 Afcon tournament is part of an ongoing and growing trend of MultiChoice and SuperSport showing less and less African football to DStv subscribers.

The bulk of the 2023 Afcon tournament will still be seen on MultiChoice's DStv indirectly however, with DStv subscribers who would be able to tune to SABC1 and SABC3 channels (but not the SABC Sport channel) which are carried on DStv's platform.

In effect, South African viewers will be able to watch the 2023 Afcon tournament kicking off on 13 January in Ivory Coast, free-to-air on SABC1, SABC3 and SABC Sport; as well as on SABC1 and SABC3 on DStv, on SABC1 and SABC3 on StarTimes SA's StarSat, as well as on SABC1, SABC3 and SABC Sport carried on eMedia's Openview, as well as on streaming on SABC1, SABC3 and SABC Sport on SABC+.

A big question is whether the SABC would block MultiChoice from showing 2023 Afcon content in a tit-for-tat retaliation after MultiChoice and SuperSport blocked the SABC from showing 2023 Rugby World Cup content on SABC2 on eMedia's Openview free-to-air satellite TV service.

Last year MultiChoice and SuperSport forced the SABC to show other content on the channel version of SABC2 carried on Openview, while the terrestrial version of SABC2, and the SABC2 on DStv, both carried live 2023 Rugby World Cup matches.

TVwithThinus asked the SABC specifically about this possibility.

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson told me "The SABC can confirm that the matches will be broadcast on SABC platforms on MultiChoice. The SABC believes that sport of national interest should not be restricted to any South African, so the 2023 Afcon will therefore be available on all platforms that distribute SABC channels, including Openview and DStv".

Similar to how it usually sublicenses rights from SuperSport, the SABC this time sublicensed the rights to the 2023 Afcon from the Togolese upstart company, New World Media, which runs New World TV. 

China's StarTimes - running the StarSat brand in South Africa and Southern Africa - also licensed the pay-TV rights from New World Media.

Both the SABC and StarTimes/StarSat will show the full 52 matches of the 2023 Afcon and all live, between 13 January and 11 February.

The SABC has also acquired the live matches to the rest of the CAF events, which includes all 150 matches of the 2025 Afcon qualifiers, all 32 matches of CAF CHAN 2024, all matches of CAF Champions League 2023/2024, all matches of CAF Confederations Cup 2023/2024, all the matches of CAF Africa Women Cup of Nations 2024, all matches of CAF Women's Champions League 2024, and all the matches of CAF Super Cup 2024.

Besides SABC1, SABC3 and SABC Sport, the SABC will also do live streaming of the 2023 Afcon matches on sabcsport.com and its video streaming service SABC+, where it will also be offering a catch-up service.

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, in a statement, says "The SABC team is happy to have made all these great sport activities available to the South African public and would like to express its gratitude to the rights holders, New World Media, and all the relevant stakeholders who worked tirelessly to ensure the fruition of this process."

In a statement, China's StarTimes announced that it had secured the pay-TV rights for the 2023 Afcon for sub-Saharan Africa, with StarTimes trading as StarTimes in the rest of Africa, and trading as StarSat in South Africa, which will show the tournament from 13 January.

"This strategic acquisition cements StarTimes' commitment to delivering premium sports content to its viewers and reinforces its position as a leading player in the African media landscape," Joshua Wang, StarTimes Nigeria CEO, said.

"StarTimes' investment in the rights for 2023 Afcon and CAF Events reflects the company's dedication to supporting and promoting African sports. By securing these rights StarTimes aims to bring the thrill and excitement of Afcon to an even broader audience, fostering a sense of unity and pride across the continent."

"This represents a significant milestone for us as we continue to bring the best in sports entertainment to our viewers. Afcon is a celebration of African talent and passion, and we are proud to play a key role in delivering this experience to homes across the continent."

StarSat in South Africa also confirmed that "StarSat has secured the exclusive rights to 2023 Afcon".

Meanwhile, MultiChoice and SuperSport continue the regression of showing less and less African football - either unable to secure it or unwilling to pay the price of the licensing fees. 

So far this season besides the 2023 Afcon, SuperSport have been dismal in failing to show the African leg of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the CAF awards, the African Football League (AFL), or the CAF Confederation Cup. 

SuperSport also failed to show both the CAF Champions League for men and women but does show low-rated European football that far fewer DStv subscribers across Africa are interested in as it evidently prioritises giving money to European football over investing and supporting African football at large.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice fails to secure 2023 Afcon for DStv subscribers on SuperSport for first time since 1992 as the SABC is set to announce on Friday it's sublicensed it from New World TV.

SABC blames data prices and ad integration problems for underperforming SABC+ that 'hasn't grown to levels anticipated'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster's SABC+ video streaming service it launched in November has not performed to expectations, marred by problems around trying to add advertising and with the SABC blaming high data prices for not enough people signing up and using the service.

After late out of the racing gates, the SABC suddenly announced in mid-November that it was taking over Telkom's TelkomOne streaming service which had been in existence for two years, and which was suddenly rebranded as SABC+.

The SABC inherited just over 150 000 users and said it had an "aggressive plan" to reach 2 million SABC+ users by December 2023 but will likely fall short of that target.

As a late market entrant SABC+ has been facing an uphill battle in the hotly contested video streaming space in South Africa.

SABC+ has to compete for time, attention and users against the likes of MultiChoice's Showmax which will be relaunched within months in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, eMedia's eVOD and smaller players like PCCW Media's VIU, BritBox SA, Marquee TV, PrideTV and CineMagic.

Besides these, Paramount Global's Paramount+ as well as Warner Bros. Discovery's relaunched Max is yet to launch in South Africa.

Nada Wotshela, acting SABC CEO, told parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Tuesday that the SABC+ "performance is not quite what we had expected" and has fallen short of performance targets.

"It's a platform we acquired from a third party because the process to acquire our own OTT platform was taking too long. So we entered into an agreement," she said.

"It's a platform we had to perfect as we go along. For instance, the functionality for placing adverts has been an issue. We've had to acquire this service from an external service provider. There have been some issues there in terms of the contract and other technicalities."

"SABC+ hasn't grown to the levels we had anticipated," Nada Wotshela told parliament. "One of the issues is the cost of data in South Africa. A lot of the audiences that we are targeting cannot afford to just afford on the over-the-top (OTT) platform to watch the programmes."

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, told parliament that SABC+ had to pivot from being an SVOD platform to being an advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) platform and service.

"We took SABC+ over from Telkom and TelkomONE was a subscription-based platform. We had to redevelop it for an advertising base."

"We changed strategy - we can't compete with our competitors with launching new channels which they did to mitigate the impact of loadshedding and we actually used SABC+ for that."

BREAKING. SABC posts a loss of R1.1 Billion for 2022/2023 financial year, broadcaster struggling to even pay for 'critical expenditure' to keep SABC on-air.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's beleaguered public broadcaster on Wednesday for the first time confirmed its massive loss-making projection from earlier this year and announced that it had made another annual loss of R.1 billion for its 2022/2023 financial year, saying that it is in such a dire financial situation that it's even struggling to pay "critical expenditure" that's crucial to keeping the SABC on-air.

The broadcaster's top execs earlier this year told parliament that it expected the struggling SABC to post another annual loss which would exceed R1 billion.

In the latest briefing to parliament on the SABC's fourth quarter expenditure and financial reports, the public broadcaster's board and top executives on Tuesday confirmed that the broadcaster posted a loss of R1.1 billion for its 2022/2023 financial year.

The SABC previously told parliament that it would be breaking even for the 2022/2023 financial year.

The SABC is for instance once again severely struggling to pay suppliers and production companies for content, with Danie Odendaal Productions that halted production on Monday due to non-payment and which will only resume filming from Thursday after the SABC managed to scrape together some money to settle some of the massive amount of money owed to this production company.

Khathutshelo Ramakumba, SABC board chairperson, told parliament that the broadcaster blames "contributing factors" like Eskom's loadshedding, the aggressive competition from video streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, plunging SABC TV ratings affecting advertising rates, and the loss of TV households receiving the SABC signals through analogue transmission towers being switched off by government, for the loss.

"Loadshedding affect the audiences of the SABC and therefore the advertising revenues that goes hand in hand with that," he said.

"There's also the implication of the analogue switch-off on the audiences of the SABC but also the tough competition that is there largely on the video entertainment side of things with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) in the form of multinational companies entering this space with limited or no regulation at all."

"The current funding model of the SABC is simply not working and it's not working for the future," Khathutshelo Ramakumba said. 

He noted the "high SABC TV Licence fee evasion rate which is somewhere on the upwards of 87%".

"This explains the loss position where the SABC is."

Khathutshelo Ramakumba said that "at the moment the ailing revenues that we are making from the commercial side of the business are used to cross-subsidise the public service mandate and that is not sustainable and the loss position proves the answer of the unsustainability of this current funding model."

He said that the "SABC is in a situation, where now - as a short-term intervention - we're even deferring certain critical expenditure programmes that are critical to keep the SABC on-air".

SABC+ performance disappointing

Nada Wotshela, acting SABC CEO, said that its SABC+video streaming platform's performance "is not quite what we had expected".

"This platform was not built specifically for the SABC. It's a platform we acquired from a third party".

She said SABC+ which the SABC took over from Telkom "hasn't grown how we anticipated. One of the issues is the cost of data in South Africa".

SABC: Boardless for 3 months and counting as loss-making public broadcaster's revenue generating plans slip away.

by Thinus Ferreira

This week marks an unprecedented three months - and counting - that the unstable and cash-strapped SABC has been without any board, as the doors are closing on some new revenue-generating plans that the South African public broadcaster's executives came up with to try and stem losses but which all require board approval before they can be implemented. 

The SABC has been lurching along boardless since mid-October 2022 - the fault of politicians and the tardiness of parliament's portfolio committee on communications.

The ANC-controlled parliamentary committee, despite multiple prior warnings in 2022 that the term of the then SABC board was coming to an end, started the process too late to advertise, do interviews and compile a shortlist of candidates to be rubberstamped by president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Meanwhile the time in Cyril Ramaphosa's diary in late-2022 and early-2023 got consumed by the ANC's 55th national conference in December 2022 and to secure his second term as president of the ANC, as well as South Africa's dramatically worsening electricity supply crisis due to a crippled Eskom.

Last week Vincent Magwenya, presidency spokesperson, said that from the president's side there "is an appreciation of the urgency of finalising the process. There was a slight administration and logistical delay towards the end of last year" and that "an announcement is imminent and the process is being finalised".

As a result, a rudderless SABC which is once again heading for yet another loss-making year and is projecting to announce a R608 million loss for its 2022/2023 financial year, has been unable to get board sign-off on some new revenue-generating plans.

These plans - although not able to put the SABC back in the green - would have shaved some millions off of the latest projected loss. Now the SABC has already lost at least one quarter of its latest financial year unable to make more money. 

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, made it clear to parliament's portfolio committee that some of these plans are stalling because they specifically require SABC board approval.

Plans like new external sales deals whereby some airtime sales for timeslots on SABC radio and TV are outsourced to third-party companies, could for instance net the SABC R30 million in additional income but can't yet be put into operation since there isn't a board to sign off on these plans.

'The SABC needs a board now'

"The SABC needs a board now," says the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition pressure group.

"It's now three months since the term of office of the previous SABC board expired on 15 October 2022. The litany of undue delays in appointing the board continues to hamper the institution's efficiency and strategic direction," says Uyanda Siyotula, SOS national coordinator.

"The SOS Coalition is concerned that a significant public institution has been without a board for three months – this has not happened before."

"There are critical issues that need board intervention and approval that are currently on hold."

The SOS Coalition says it is "disappointed by the lackadaisical attitude of the National Assembly in sending the recommended names to the president some 14 days after they were finalised with no explanation as to the reason for the delay".

"The decision taken at the ANC conference in December to replace TV licenses with a household broadcasting levy needs the SABC to strategise on the most adequate implementation process and resource allocation to ensure a swift transition and is likely to need board intervention."

"Further, the looming Analogue Switch Off (ASO) date of 31 March 2023, recently announced by the minister of communications and digital technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, will require a new strategic direction for the institution as it stands to lose part of the 68% audience from the remaining four provinces that still distribute analogue SABC television signals."

The SOS Coalition says that "the minister has set 27 January as the date for interested parties to make submissions on this issue. How is the board supposed to be appointed, inducted and be able to make a comprehensive submission on the biggest threat to its financial viability that it has ever faced?"

About the shortlisted candidates whose names were put forward to comprise the new SABC board, the SOS Coalition says that Dinkwanyane Mohuba should not be appointed until such time as the Supreme Court of Appeal has cleared his name of allegations relating to a fraudulent qualification.

"Nomvuyiso Batyi should be appointed to the SABC board only on condition that she immediately resigns as the CEO of the Association of Communications and Technology. Mpho Tsedu should be appointed to the SABC board only on condition that he immediately resigns as a special advisor to the DCDT and its ministry".

Public broadcaster to launch a SABC TV Licence loyalty programme with tiered-rewards to try decrease licence fee evasion rate.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's public broadcaster will launch a SABC TV Licence loyalty programme, with tiered-rewards, in an attempt to get more TV households to pay their annual TV Licence fee.

According to the SABC's latest financial report of 2021/2022, only 18% of TV households which are on the SABC's books and which the broadcaster is aware of, still bother to pay a SABC TV Licence fee.

Millions more households owning TV sets without any licence and which the SABC is not aware of, are watching MultiChoice's DStv, StarSat, video streamers and other video content without any licence. 

After billing R4.446 billion in total SABC TV Licence fees during its 2021/2022 financial year, the SABC made only R815 million - meaning that a whopping 81.7% of people who have or once had a SABC TV Licence are simply not paying it, known as the fee evasion rate.

Meanwhile, the SABC spent R73 million rand on SABC TV Licence fee collection, which increased R9 million from R64 million in the previous financial year - meaning that the SABC's collection cost rate climbed further from 8.1% to 8.9%.

Now the broadcaster wants to start a SABC TV Loyalty programme.

"Why we had a slump in SABC TV Licence collections is that two of the agencies that were collecting on our behalf were underperforming and we had to terminate those agreements and go back to market and bring new ones onboard," Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, told parliament.

"We'll be implementing a SABC TV Loyalty programme. The timing of this is really divine if you really think in terms of our streaming service SABC+ which wasn't on the cards before. Now we'll have a TV Licence Loyalty programme that we can link into that and so our marketing department is working out campaigns around that."

The SABC wants a TV Licence Loyalty programme that integrates with its existing TV Licence database, offers tier-specific rewards to customers, allows them to earn rewards, and enables the easy spending, transfer and donation of earned rewards.

The loyalty programme must also offer promotions, competitions and surveys.

SABC hopes to earn R37.5 million from SABC+ in its first year, adds 15 000 new users per day.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's public broadcaster hopes to earn R37.5 million from its just-launched video streaming service SABC+ during its first financial year in operation, with the streamer adding around 15 000 new users per day.

SABC+ launched on 17 November after it took over the TelkomONE streaming service and rebranded it and which Telkom decided to offload to the public broadcaster, inheriting just over 150 000 existing users.

The SABC wants to scale up the number of users to between 1 and 2 million by November 2023 but will have to work hard as a late market entrant to compete against the likes of Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+ and MultiChoice's video streamer Showmax.

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, told parliament this week that SABC+ is growing "an average of 15 000 new subscribers per day".

The SABC hopes to earn R6 million from SABC+ during the third quarter of its 2022/2023 financial year, rising to R31.5 million during the fourth quarter of the financial year, for a total of R37.5 million. 

The SABC plans to launch its video streamer as well as new TV channels from September, promises 'compelling new content' as it shakes up its content acquisition process.

by Thinus Ferreira
 
The South African public broadcaster has had to delay the launch of its own video streaming service but now plans to do so from September and during the third quarter of this year – with the SABC that will also launch new TV channels and promising "compelling new content" while it's drastically shaking up the way that it's acquiring content for its existing and planned TV channels.
 
The SABC also admitted publicly for the first time that the government's drastic province-by-province switch-off of analogue transmitters in the country’s long-delayed digital migation process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) is damaging and adding to the SABC's TV audience losses as viewers who haven’t yet switched over are disappearing from the existing TAMS ratings system when they can no longer access TV signals and watch public television.
 
eMedia last year warned that the government’s drastic shutdown of transmitters will negatively impact ratings and in turn the advertising revenue of broadcasters like e.tv and the SABC.
 
The SABC - late to launch its own over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service in South Africa - previously said that it would be launching its own streamer before the end of this financial year, ending 31 March 2022.
 
This has now been pushed to the third quarter of 2022 into the broadcaster’s next financial year. The SABC says that with the launch of its streamer it will also debut new SABC TV channels which will be carried on its streaming services, together with existing ones.
 
Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (SCOPA) that the SABC’s revenue decline is driven by the migration of audiences from linear television to digital platforms.
 
“In our new financial year, our focus shifts to putting measures in place to ensure we generate revenue from the digital platforms. There are of course our partnerships with Telkom and eMedia and the likes which also provides us access to their platforms that are additional platforms where we are able to generate revenue from."
 
Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, said "the decline in audience has a direct impact on the decline in advertising revenue".
 
"The decline in audience is multi-causational – the global trend that there is. There’s not much we can do about that. There is an impact on the analogue switch-off but we are managing that with the department of communications and digital technologies."
 
 
SABC moving into the digital space
Ian Plaatjes said that the SABC now plans to launch the public broadcaster's own video streaming service, similar to the BBC's iPlayer, by the third quarter of this year and that a big driver of audience loss for the SABC is audience migration to digital.
 
"Right now we do not have our own digital platform. We have gone to market and are in the final stages of testing the responses of that and we will have our own over-the-top (OTT) platform in the market by the third quarter of the next financial year."
 
"What that means is we're going to be launching additional channels within the new financial year but we are also changing the process of acquiring content for our channels – we are optimising that. It's a big game-changer. You will see a lot more compelling content coming through on our existing platforms but also on the new channels that we are going to be launching that will also be available on our OTT platform."
 
"We will be aggressively playing in the digital space," Ian Plaatjes said.
 
He said that the SABC started testing the software on Tuesday this week that would allow the broadcaster to commercialise its own streamer's platform as well as the third-party platforms it is using.
 
"We will be using it as a pilot phase for this month and will go live from next month. So for the first time, we will start off a financial year where we have the ability to monetise our digital platforms as well."

ALSO READ: South Africa's public broadcaster wants to replace SABC TV Licence with a compulsory 'media levy'.

The SABC plans to launch its own video streaming service before the end of its current financial year that ends 31 March 2022.

by Thinus Ferreira

After a decade and a half of underinvestment in technology and content the South African public broadcaster plans to launch its own SABC video streaming service to the public, modeled after the BBC's iPlayer, before the end of its current financial year.

Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC board chairperson, told the Media & Society programme on SABC News (DStv 404) that the public broadcaster plans to have its own video streaming service up and running in South Africa before the end of its current financial year which is 31 March 2022.

The SABC is late out of the gate with a video streaming service and when it launches will have been pipped to the post by the country's commercial free-to-air broadcaster e.tv that launched its eVOD service earlier this month.

Then there is also the flurry of other subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and freemium streaming services in South Africa like AcornTV, BritBox SA, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, MultiChoice's Showmax, Apple TV+, TelkomONE, VIU, DEOD, Marquee TV, PrideTV, CineMagic and Vodacom Video Play that have all been gobbling up available video consumers and building their user bases. 

"We have underinvested on technology and content. The board has approved a digital strategy that will see an over-the-top (OTT) platform of the SABC being launched," Bongumusa Makhathini said.

"There's going to be a tender - management is dealing with it - I'm sure before the end of this current financial year there's going to be an OTT platform that will allow us to monetise and commercialise all the content that we have because currently, we are relying on other platforms."

He said that the SABC wants to make more commercial deals "like the one we have with TelkomONE, like the deal we have with Openview, to get more channels, so that we can truly become a multi-platofrm, multi-channel organisation that is able to survive and thrive within the digital world".

Various permutations of the SABC's linear TV and radio channels are currently carried by MultiChoice DStv, StarTimes' StarSat and eMedia's Openview, with different collections of linear SABC TV channels streaming and SABC on-demand content available on the streaming services of TelkomONE and VIU, as well as YouTube.

Over the past decade and a half, the SABC's once lofty plans for an iPlayer-like streaming service and 18 digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels all fell by the wayside and evaporated, marred by the exit of its highly-skilled IT executives, mismanagement, wayward top-management and board appointments, as well as maladministration of funds and corruption that brought the SABC to the edge of another financial cliff.

The SABC is 13 years and counting behind the BBC that officially launched its own BBC iPlayer in December 2007 with the SABC that is finally gearing up to push out its own digital player version. The SABC launched its SABC News app in April 2019.

In the same year the SABC told parliament that it's looking at implementing a so-called "freemium" model - where basic access is free with a tiered pay-to-watch system for additional premium content.

How the BBC's iPlayer works is that BBC viewers are able to watch all of the BBC's TV channels online, with nearly all of its programmes that are available to watch shortly after they've been broadcast for a set amount of time. The iPlayer also curates shows from the BBC archives and offer live events and online exclusives.

Ian Plaatjes, SABC chief operating officer (COO), told TVwithThinus about the SABC's video streamer plans that "Our strategy is to have a multi-OTT presence and we are not going to be competing with others".

"We are going to be launching our own and it will be during this financial year. We will be going to market pretty soon with our own but it will be complementary to the other OTT providers as well."

eMedia Investments' Openview adds SABC Sport, 19 SABC radio stations and 2 further SABC TV channels in 'ground-breaking' carriage agreement.

by Thinus Ferreira

Openview is adding the South African public broadcaster's SABC Sport channel, along with its 19 SABC radio stations, as well as a further two as-yet-unannounced SABC TV channels, to its free-to-air satellite service in a new channel carriage agreement that eMedia Investments and the SABC calls "ground-breaking".

While eMedia Investments' Openview has carried SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 for the past few years until now it has been without payment. The new, expanded channel carriage agreement will bring more content to the Openview service whilst creating a new content revenue stream for the SABC.

Notwithstanding this agreement at the platform level, the SABC's TV channels and radio stations will continue to compete for audience and advertising with the various eMedia-owned TV channels and services, similar to the way that eMedia and the SABC are currently competitors on the analogue network.

Through this channel carriage agreement that was announced on Thursday night at a media event in Hyde Park, Johannesburg and broadcast live on the eNCA and SABC News channels, the SABC is officially entering the free-to-air satellite TV market that which will supplement the SABC's channel footprint on digital terrestrial television (DTT), as well as on streaming platforms like Telkom ONE.

The SABC's channels are already carried on satellite pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes' StarSat under so-called "must-carry" regulations but in exchange for bigger universal access the broadcaster isn't getting paid for that carriage.

First among the three new SABC TV channels that will be added to Openview is SABC Sport that will launch on Openview soon on channel 124, with eMedia saying it will announce a launch date within the next month. 

In a SABC Sport channel sizzle reel shown at the event the public broadcaster teased coverage of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, as well as international soccer, South African rugby, local cricket and boxing coverage. 

SABC Sport will also be distributed simultaneously across Openview, DTT, Telkom ONE and other streaming platforms.

The other two SABC TV channels that will be announced within the next 3 months will leverage extensive SABC content and archived material and might likely include a general entertainment channel like the now-defunct SABC Encore channel that the SABC supplied to DStv as part of a carriage contract that ended.

eMedia and the SABC says in a joint statement that "Openview and the SABC believe that this new agreement will expedite digital migration from analogue-only households to digital broadcasting platforms with more compelling free-to-air channels and content".

"Together with the DTT platform, Openview provides audiences with a free high-definition (HD) alternative to both analogue terrestrial and pay satellite options."

Openview, which has grown its availability to 2.3 million TV households so far, and the SABC, say that the "ground-breaking new distribution agreement will enhance both companies in the free-to-air category of television broadcasting" and that their collaboration "signals a seismic shift in the country's broadcasting landscape".

"With this agreement, the SABC ensures that its content, in all its formats, continues to resonate with the prescripts of its public mandate, and more so in providing universal access to credible content."

"The agreement also guarantees HD broadcast quality and free access to the SABC’s television network wherever you are in South Africa. For Openview, this agreement enhances its strength in the direct-to-home (DTH) space with additional content and a solid binding collaboration with the public broadcaster."

Antonio Lee, eMedia Investments COO, says the carriage agreement "is an exciting development for both the SABC and ourselves. The agreement ushers in a new level of collaboration between a private free-to-air satellite platform and public free-to-air broadcast services".

"There is no doubt it will boost the offering of Openview and will extend the SABC’s audience reach. We can now offer our Openview audience additional quality content and access to digital broadcast radio in the widest variety of languages possible in South Africa. We hope this is the start of a stronger and more fruitful relationship between Openview and the SABC".

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, says "This agreement enables the SABC to grow its channel offering and reach into the digital broadcasting space with three additional HD television channels".

"The agreement also enhances the distribution of SABC radio stations to create an increased value proposition for our radio advertising inventory."

Black Friday: SABC News anchors all wear black to protest against broadcaster's retrenchment plan as concerns over a possible on-air blackout grows.

by Thinus Ferreira

As concerns about a possible on-air SABC blackout and "black-on-air" situation grows, SABC News anchors and reporters on Friday surreptitiously joined their colleagues who were protesting outside through quietly wearing black attire on-air.

On Friday SABC News anchors and field reporters appeared dressed in black behind the anchor desk in Auckland Park and out covering the news - only the second time ever that they joined in making a statement on air through what they're wearing.

Angry SABC staff first organised a silent "Black Friday" clothing protest on 22 July 2016 when they wore black in open revolt against the then SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and in support of their fired so-called "SABC8" news colleagues. 

Yesterday they all donned black clothing on-air again to send a strong and unified silent message.

SABC workers are protesting about the embattled and overstaffed South African public broadcaster's retrenchment plan in which 400 workers will likely lose their jobs. 

Some political parties like the ANC and EFF have joined trade unions and protesting SABC workers on Friday who picketed outside SABC buildings across South Africa.

Politicians and their populist rhetoric have provided no solutions for the SABC's deepening financial quagmire except politicising an already difficult issue and saying they don't want workers to lose their jobs. 

Various factions are now trying to distil the SABC battle over job cuts into a politicised battle between the SABC board - painted as "bad" - and SABC workers who are "good". In reality, the issues and the problems at the SABC are extremely complex and the challenges around the need for retrenchments much more multi-faceted. 

The SABC board have said in 2019 and again this year that if the ANC-led government doesn't want job cuts it will need to commit to give the SABC an additional R1 billion per year. The SABC that just made a net loss of R511 is on track to make another loss of at least R1.2 billion next year.

Meanwhile, staff say that SABC top management executives took a lazy, uninformed and unworkable cookie-cutter approach in deciding on cuts within the proposed new SABC structure.

As part of their controversial restructuring SABC execs have scrapped SABC News TV current affairs shows on SABC2 like Zwa Maramani in Tshivenda and Ngula Ya Vutivi in Xitsonga. For now, Fokus in Afrikaans on SABC2, Cutting Edge in Nguni on SABC1 and Special Assignment in English on SABC3 will remain on-air.

Hannes du Buisson, Bemawu spokesperson, said that "some of the complaints from staff are people saying 'My position on the system is as an administrator. The SABC scrapped my position but I'm the only one at the SABC that must pay certain content licensing fees."

The trade unions said that if the SABC fires permanent staff and then replace them again with freelancers and independent contractors that the personnel cost won't go away but that the cost of paying for labour would just end up somewhere else on the balance sheet.

Black-on-air concerns

Meanwhile concerns are growing around a possible blackout of the SABC's TV channels and radio stations - a situation known as "black-on-air", in particular the SABC News (DStv 404) TV channel.

Interestingly, it is both SABC executives, the SABC board and ordinary SABC staff's interest for SABC News to remain on-air without any blackout.

SABC News as a TV news channel - similar to eNCA, Newzroom Afrika and the now-defunct ANN7 and SABC Encore - was commissioned by MultiChoice and is made exclusively for the pay-TV provider who pays for it. 

The contract, worth millions of rand funnelled to SABC coffers, comes with clauses that include penalties for non-performance and non-delivery - like on-air blackouts.  

If there is to be any blackout of SABC News on DStv because of a strike or possible sabotage, the SABC that is already struggling financially, could lose even more money if MultiChoice enacts any penalty clauses over content disruption and decides to withhold or pay the SABC less.

To prevent a SABC blackout if staff strike or sabotage the channel feed or operations, Ian Plaatjes, SABC chief operating officer, told parliament's portfolio committee on Thursday that "a robust contingency plan" exists especially around SABC News.

He said that it was necessary to relook the plan since people getting retrenched were part of the original plan."Some of the names on there were people who might be affected and we just had to double-check that as well," he said.

Late on Friday the SABC issued a statement saying the broadcaster "is fully aware of a plan to create a 'blackout' on our platforms. We can confirm that there are contingency plans in place that will kick in immediately should this self-induced crisis be precipitated. There will be consequence management against any employee who is involved in the planned blackout".

The SABC said that it "has a statutory duty and public mandate to provide uninterrupted radio and television services for millions of South Africans" and that it "wants to assure the public that we remain committed to delivering our public mandate of informing, educating and entertaining South Africans, irrespective of any planned misconduct or ill-discipline".