The South African public broadcaster says smart watches don't require a SABC TV Licence.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster says smart watches don't require a SABC TV Licence.

The clarification comes after rumours spread online this week that the SABC now requires TV licences for smart watches.

After a similar online hoax spread in May 2023, the SABC stated that a SABC TV Licence is not required for a car radio. Now South Africans have been threatened that they need a licence to buy, wear and use a smart watch.

"The SABC can confirm its fake news and that a TV Licence has never been a requirement to purchase a smartwatch," Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, says in response to a media query.

A staggering 87% of South African TV households on the SABC's TV Licence register no longer bother to pay their annual SABC TV Licence fee of R265.

The South African government and the department of communications and digital technologies have been stalling for years to get rid of the SABC TV Licence system in its current form and to replace it with a better system.

France got rid of its TV licence in 2022 and the BBC in the United Kingdom is on track to end its TV licence fee in 2027.

SABC CEO: 'We're not winning in collecting TV Licences', as broadcaster abandons amnesty plan.

by Thinus Ferreira

"We are just not winning with South Africans in collecting TV Licences." 

This is the stark admission from Nada Wotshela, acting SABC CEO, who briefed parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Wednesday on the public broadcaster's outdated and failed TV Licence system.

Nada Wotshela noted that the SABC has abandoned a proposed SABC TV Licence Amnesty plan, since it was too complex and intricate to put into action.

Instead of replacing the SABC TV Licence regime with a household levy which the country's department of communications has promised to do multiple times over the past two years, the government shocked last week when cabinet approved a bizarre new SABC Bill sent to parliament for debate and that contained no details about it and instead maintains the current TV Licence set-up.

Just 13% - a new record-low - of the 10.8 million TV households on the SABC's database still bother to pay the annual licence fee of R265. 

Millions more TV households have TV sets but watch and stream without any licence and whose details and addresses are unknown to the SABC and who are therefore not getting billed. 

Then there are people and families who emigrated years ago but continue to get bills delivered at South African addresses they had left years ago, people who no longer have any TV set, as well as thousands of deceased people who have invoices with massive arrears that continue to arrive at dead man's door. 

The SABC also sends TV Licence fee bills to indigent people who simply can't afford to pay and people who are jobless, who keep getting billed together with growing arrears and penalties they and will never be able to settle. 

While the SABC gets a forced annual influx of new customers who must pay for a SABC TV Licence when they buy a new TV set, the SABC makes less and less money from effectively a "captive audience".

The SABC TV Licence compliance rate keeps falling year after year, while the fee evasion rate keeps increasing. The fee evasion rate is now up to a record 87% of non-payment for the SABC's 2022/23 financial year. 

"We've billed in excess of R4.5 billion again like we've done most years, but it's been a theme in recent years, we have struggled to collect," Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament.

"Cash collected was only about R773 million," she said. It's R115 million (13%) less than in 2022.

Although the SABC billed R4.651 billion in 2023 - up from R4.414 billion in 2022 - the SABC collected less money (R775 million) than the R890 million it collected in 2022.

Meanwhile, the SABC also once again spent more to collect the ever smaller amount received in licence fees.

In 2022 the SABC spent R64 million on collecting SABC TV Licence fees through debt collection agencies. In 2023 it increased to R67 million.

Nada Wotshela said "We are just not winning with South Africans in collecting TV Licences. We've tried various interventions. The fact that people have so many other choices in how they access our services - they really don't see why they should continue paying SABC TV Licences."

In her presentation, it was noted that a SABC TV Licence Amnesty plan was abandoned.

"Though feedback was received on the Amnesty application, in reflecting on the legislative framework that would empower such an action, it is believed that such does not exist and as such the programme could not proceed."

Bizarre SABC Bill calls for creation of second SABC with own commercial board approved and appointed by minster; South Africa's SABC TV Licence system set to continue.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's cabinet has approved a bizarre SABC Bill which calls for the creation of a second SABC - a commercial entity complete with its own board appointed by the minister - while shockingly retaining the SABC TV Licence regime with no specifics about replacing it with a so-called household levy.

The SABC Bill approved by cabinet late last week for submission to parliament, is supposed to replace the Broadcasting Act of 1999 to help the embattled South African public broadcaster to more effectively compete and survive in today's fast-changing broadcasting and media landscape. 

Instead, the bizarre bill appears cobbled together with non-sensical language, outdated and misguided ideas for a public broadcaster and effectively spinning off the SABC's existing but troubled commercial enterprises in a whole new company with its own board, not appointed by parliament but an "independent panel" and the minister of communications.

As bizarre is the retention of the SABC TV Licence regime in the bill. 

With only 13% of TV households on the SABC's database still paying an annual TV Licence fee and with government repeatedly saying it plans to replace it with a household levy, the SABC Bill makes no mention of a household levy and instead retains the existing SABC TV Licence system.

Marked "secret" the SABC Bill calls for the creation of a second SABC - a "commercial company" as a subsidiary of the SABC, complete with its own "commercial board".

The SABC currently has commercial services in the form of radio stations and TV channels like 5FM and SABC3, but instead of these being money-spinners and making revenue to support the SABC's public service mandate, it's the public services like SABC1 and SABC2 forced to support and pay to keep SABC3 on the air.  

The plan is to move the SABC's existing but struggling commercial services into its own entity where it will presumably suddenly perform and be managed better to create revenue for the SABC.

According to the bill, this second commercial SABC will "commission a significant amount of their programming from the independent sector" and "be operated in an efficient manner so as to maximise the revenues provided" to the SABC.

While the SABC Bill was supposed to cut down on the expenses of the SABC board, it envisions the creation of a second board for the commercial SABC.

Where the public nominates, parliament oversees and interviews and the president appoints the members of the SABC board, the second SABC's board of nine additional people will be appointed by a so-called "independent selection panel consisting of five people" who then appoint this second board "in consultation with the minister", effectively sidestepping the public and parliament.

TV Licence staying put

While the SABC's current funding model is broken, with the broadcaster having made another R1.13 billion annual loss and unable to fulfill its public mandate, the SABC Bill kicks the can down the road to urgently rectify the broadcaster's funding crisis.

Instead of a replacement for the SABC TV Licence and any detailed plan for a household levy, the bill retains the SABC TV Licence system for South Africa. 

The SABC Bill states that the minister of communications, currently Mondli Gungubele, must only come up with a replacement funding model for the SABC in three year's time.

The government should "within three years after the commencement of this Act, develop a funding

model framework to ensure that the majority of the SABC's funding is sourced from the state-based funding mechanisms" the SABC Bill says.

However, "before establishing the funding model framework", the department of communications must first "develop a comprehensive and relevant feasibility study to inform a clear business case for the SABC's funding model in consultation with the minister of finance".

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".

'Still billing our dead grandma': Furious South Africans react over R44.2 billion SABC TV Licence arrears.

by Thinus Ferreira

Furious South Africans are extremely angry, reacting with scorn and resentment and saying they won't pay, following the revelation from the financially struggling South African public broadcaster that the amount owed in overdue SABC TV Licence fees plus fines has ballooned to an astronomical R44.2 billion owed by over 9.2 million people.

ALSO READ: 9.2 million South Africans owe the SABC R44.2 billion in TV Licence fees.

Millions of South Africans are constantly hounded by incessant calls and SMSes from the SABC itself as well as several debt collector companies for long-overdue SABC TV Licence fees piling up annually, with many who no longer have TV sets, who have died, left South Africa years ago, and those who simply refuse to pay - or can't pay - massive arrears built up over years.

The minister of communication and digital technologies, Mondli Gungubele, in a written response to a parliamentary question from the EFF political party's MP Sinawo Tambo, revealed that the SABC is owed a staggering R44.2 billion from 9.2 million people in SABC TV Licence fees, with the details of at least 5.6 million people who have been given to debt collection agencies.

For years the SABC has spent more money on SABC TV Licence fee collection than what it made from SABC TV Licence fees, which are pegged at R265 per year and accumulate fines when not paid.

Over R44 billion is sitting on the SABC's balance sheet as unrealised "revenue" from SABC TV Licence fees that keeps growing - money that on paper it is supposed to still receive but it is unlikely to ever collect from people who are dead, left South Africa years ago, don't have work, from TV sets they've long since parted with, got stolen or no longer works. 

The beleaguered SABC which got a R3.2 billion government bailout in October 2019 is once again set to post a massive loss of over R1 billion for the 2022/2023 financial year, blaming falling TV ratings, a downturn in advertising income, Eskom's loadshedding and the loss of audience from the South African government's haphazard switch-off of Sentech's analogue TV signal transmitters for the loss.

While the SABC keeps billing the 10.5 million South African TV households it knows about and whose records are on its outdated database, tens of millions more are watching television in the country without a SABC TV Licence.

This ranges from people using TV sets to stream shows from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to Showmax and Disney+, watching traditional pay-TV like MultiChoice's DStv or who are subscribed to StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, as well as people watching YouTube, downloading torrents on a computer, or accessing video channels on smart TVs.

Meanwhile, the so-called "fee evasion rate" - the percentage of people who have a SABC TV Licence but simply don't bother to pay it - stands at a whopping 81.7%: After billing R4.446 billion during its 2021/2022 financial year, the public broadcaster only got R815 million in TV Licence income.

The SABC makes it difficult and cumbersome for an existing SABC TV Licence to be cancelled, with many South Africans who say they've tried and gave up from sheer exasperation. While the SABC keeps top billing SABC TV Licence fees, these fee amounts grow with the addition of fines. 

"You lot are still billing our dead grandma, go collect it yourself, I'll give you her plot number," said Mark Elliott.

Shea Bethell noted that she's "been telling them for about 8 years that I no longer have a TV. They simply ignore the email and send another statement".

Mamotsepe Maimane mentioned that "The TV in my name died of the first power surge before loadshedding even had a name in 2009 and Eskom didn't want to pay for it. So they can dala what they must cause I don't watch TV anymore anyway".

Glisson Niekerk says "I tried for over 10 years to tell you that I don't have a TV and don't live in the country anymore but still you kept on charging and charging. SABC, if only you could get a department to sort this out, the amount will come down considerably".

Mthunzi Dlamini says "I've asked several times why we have to pay TV Licences. I owe smart TVs, watches Netflix, Showmax and the likes. No DStv and definitely no SABC content, so why should I pay TV Licence?"

According to Moses Jay "I'm going through the same torment each and every year - I've sent signed and stamped affidavits and they keep assigning clueless debt collectors".

"I'm one of those," said Nonhlanhla Totongwana. "They keep adding penalities [to the TV set] I stopped watching 10 years ago. I'm watching on my friends's smart TV". Another non-SABC TV Licence payer noted: "They're calling and SMSing me every day, it's so annoying. They are threatening me with lawyers, arrears, credit bureau. I told them I'm unemployed and haven't had a TV for a year now. They must do the worst.".

Mjali Siyaziwa says "I've been cancelling mine for the past 18 years. It disappears and resurfaces every three to five years with arrears".

Thana Mokgoatjana adds: "Even though you email them a case number that you had a burglary, they still demand. Now why would I pay TV Licence when I don't have a TV set anymore?"

ALSO READ: 9.2 million South Africans owe the SABC R44.2 billion in TV Licence fees.

9.2 million South Africans owe the SABC R44.2 billion in TV Licence fees.

by Thinus Ferreira

An astonishing 9.2 million South Africans owe a collective R44.2 billion in piled up SABC TV Licence fees - an astronomical amount of money the beleaguered South African public broadcaster can never hope to get.

In a written answer by Mondli Gungubele, South Africa's minister of communications and digital technologies, the shocking revelation is made that "a total of 9.2 million accounts has outstanding balances valued at R44.2 billion".

According to the minister, the R44.2 billion comprised of unpaid invoices and penalities levied for non-payment over several years, with at least 5.6 million accounts which have been handed over for external debt collection.

The SABC's TV Licence system and compliance are broken beyond repair, with the department and the SABC looking at trying to scrap it and get it replaced with a new household levy.

The department notes that it is "proposing that the television licence model be replaced with the household fee model. Pending legislative changes, the department will continuously engage with the SABC and Treasury to examine the options for the necessary reform and enhancements required of the current TV licence system to properly provide for the funding requirements of the SABC and the most appropriate collection, enforcement systems and a timeframe for implementation".

The SABC, which is set to once again post a loss of over R1 billion for the 2022/2023 financial year, knew of about 10.5 million registered SABC TV Licence holders by March 2022.

That is however but a fraction of the total number of South African TV households in the country with millions more households owning TV sets without any licence and which the SABC is not aware of - people who are watching pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, video streaming services 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 massive 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%.

SABC car radio licence 'announcement' is a hoax and fabrication.

by Thinus Ferreira

False information that the SABC has introduced an annual SABC Car radio licence fee of R401 which comes with a penalty fine of R750 or 90 days in jail is devoid of any truth and has been denied by the South African public broadcaster.

On social media on Monday South African users started circulating a bogus "press statement", purportedly from the SABC, claiming that the SABC was "pleased to announce the introduction of the new SABC Car radio licence".

The fake one page press statement was created using the real SABC logo, as well as name and contact details of an SABC spokesperson.

The fake statement said that since "the SABC has seen a dramatic decline in TV licence revenue due to streaming services such as Netflix becoming ever more popular, we as the SABC therefore had to look at new revenue streams".

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, whose name was used in the fake press statement, on Monday told me that no radio licence has been or will be introduced.

"The SABC would like to alert the public of a fake media statement which is circulating on various social media platforms titled 'Introduction of radio licences as part of SABC's drive to generate revenue'. The SABC has not issued any media statement making such public pronouncements regarding licences for car radios," the SABC said.

Tellingly, the fake statement said that a SABC Car radio licence would cost R401 per year - more expensive than the R265 of a SABC TV Licence.

Radio licences were issued in South Africa for a while since 1924 but the practice was abandoned decades ago in favour of a general SABC TV Licence.

Instead of introducing a new licence like a car radio licence, the SABC is currently working with the department of communications to do away with the SABC TV Licence fee with plans to replace it with a new tax in the form of a new household levy.

Instead of the SABC having to collect a SABC TV licence fee which few TV households still bother to pay, the government and the broadcaster want to replace it with a general household levy which will be collected to fund public broadcasting in the country.

SABC's prime time TV audience share falls to below a third in 2021/2022 as just 18% of households bother to pay their SABC TV Licence fee.

by Thinus Ferreira

At less than a fifth, just 18% of South African TV households the broadcaster happens to be aware of,  still bother to pay their annual SABC TV licence - as SABC TV viewership and ratings in prime time continue to tank and have now fallen to below a third of the total audience share as viewers abandon what it's showing.

According to the SABC's latest financial report of 2021/2022, only 18.3% of South African TV households on the broadcaster's database still bothered to pay their R265 annual SABC TV Licence - while the SABC spent even more millions during the financial year trying to get South Africans to pay up.

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%.

The SABC says that the "current depressed economic environment resulted in lower collections than anticipated".

The SABC says in its financial report that it wants to do away with the SABC TV Licence and replace it with a levy which it wants private pay-TV operators like MultiChoice to help collect from DStv subscribers - especially DStv subscribers who have TV sets which the SABC doesn't know about and represent millions of TV households.

The SABC has a "known" SABC TV Licence database of just 10.5 million TV households. In reality, there are many millions more South African households with one or more TV sets - households which the broadcaster is not aware of.

The SABC wants to do away with the SABC TV Licence fees and has submitted proposals for a "technology-neutral, device-independent, public media levy to replace the existing television

licence, exempting the indigent", which it wants MultiChoice to help collect as the dominant pay-TV service in South Africa, on the public broadcaster's behalf.

SABC's prime time viewership problem

While the vast majority of South African TV households no longer care to pay a SABC TV Licence, the SABC's dwindling audience in prime time television has fallen further - plunging to below a third of total viewership share.

Just 31% of South African viewers still bothered to watch something on the SABC's TV channels during the 2021/2022 financial year, down further from 35.8% in the previous year. 

It means that two-thirds of viewers now actively avoid, don't want to watch, or can't watch anything on the SABC's SABC1, SABC2 or SABC3 television channels.

The SABC failed in its performance period share targets for each of its TV channels during the financial year, with SABC1 (target: 27%) reaching only 15.47%, SABC2 (target: 12%) reaching only 5.23% due to competition from kykNET (DStv 144) and e.tv, and SABC3 (target: 5%) only managing a paltry 2.11%.

The SABC blames a "combination of a lack of key local properties in key slots, poor marketing, and staff shortages affected performance during the year" and that "aggressive competitors and poor marketing explain the performance achieved". 

For SABC3 "the loss of key local properties without timeous replacements and the re-launch of the channel during Covid-19 adversely impacted the performance of the channel".

SABC3 underdelivered on its target for local content in prime time, while SABC1 continued to repeat YO.TV and as a result the channel underdelivered on local children's quotas.SABC2 repeated children's content and licensed some fresh content, which led to the under-delivery on children's content as well.

The second local drama series for SABC3 was delayed and will only be delivered to the channel at the end of 2022, with SABC3 that is licensing local content from other suppliers to try and help reduce the non-delivery gap.

As a a result, the SABC made less money from advertising since it had fewer viewers. "Advertising revenue declined by 8% due to the decline in audience share," the broadcaster says. 

The SABC's audience share performance problems are due to the "reduced amount of fresh content during the day, as well as less-competitive titles over the weekend that are limited by provided budgets as well as available revenue".

South African public broadcaster stops its website's online SABC TV licence payments after big security flaw.

by Thinus Ferreira

South African television viewers can no longer pay for or renew a SABC TV Licence online on its website after the South African public broadcaster abruptly took the payment functionality offline following the discovery of a serious security flaw.

South Africans who want to use the SABC's TV Licence website at www.tvlic.co.za can no longer make payments there for the annual R265 fee after the broadcaster was forced to take the online PayNow functionality offline following the discovery of a major security flaw.

There's no indication of when the website functionality will be restored. MyBroadband reported that security flaws on the site made it possible to access SABC TV Licence fee payers' account information and outstanding bills without the use of a password.

The SABC TV Licence website now only says "We are currently experiencing issues on PayNow. We apologise for the inconvenience."

"Our range of physical paypoints extends to banks, the Post Office, retailers, EasyPay outlets, the SABC head office and branches. Take your statement with you, furnish your TV licence account number as reference, and choose the most convenient place for paid-up peace of mind."

In response to a media query, Ndileka Cola, SABC spokesperson, told TVwithThinus that "The SABC can confirm that the PayNow service was taken offline on 21 July 2022 after the reports of vulnerabilities".

"This matter is being addressed and the system will be restored after a thorough testing and vulnerability scanning."

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

by Thinus Ferreira 

The South African public broadcaster is pushing ahead to get its broken SABC TV Licence fee system scrapped and for it to be replaced by a compulsory new tax in the form of a so-called "media levy" that will have to be paid by all households and businesses.

The SABC continues to say that pay-TV operators like MultiChoice and China StarTimes, operating as StarSat in South Africa, will have tack on this "media levy" to subscription fees and pay that over to the SABC to help the public broadcaster.

MultiChoice has publicly vowed that it would not do that and compromise its DStv subscriber database.

In 2021 just 21% - only 2.2 million out of the 10.3 million SABC TV Licence holders that the broadcaster is aware of - bothered to still pay their annual TV licence during the 2020/2021 financial year.

The new TV tax for the SABC would no longer be dependent on whether a person or a TV household has a TV set that can receive SABC signals or be device-specific - for example a tablet or a mobile phone - but is simply based on whether a South African has access to SABC content, irrespective of device.

The SABC appeared before parliament's standing committee on public accounts (SCOPA) on Wednesday to brief the committee on the broadcaster's irregular expenditure and finances with SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini who said that the plan is to replace the outdated SABC TV Licence fee system with a public media levy.

He said that the plan is "the replacement of the current TV Licence regime with what we call a public media levy which also has a component where the subscription major players can also assist with the collection of that public media levy".

"That's very important because it's still one of our major streams of revenue at the SABC, the first one of course being commercial activities - sponsorship, advertising and then immediately after that is the SABC TV Licence which we want to change to be a public media levy".

The SABC also wants to change the so-called "must-carry" regulations further that determines carriage of its TV channels on pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv and others, with the SABC that wants to make more money from platforms that carries its content.

"We want those regulations changes for the SABC to benefit from its content fully".

"Because of our very high cost structure, signal distribution cost is still one of the major costs faced by the SABC and we are currently in talks with Sentech to have the tariff that Sentech charges reviewed," Bongumusa Makhathini said.

SABC: No further bailouts

When asked by the committee whether the SABC can rule out any further bailouts for the public broadcaster, Bongumusa Makhathini said "I can confirm that there is no possibility of the SABC coming back for a bailout".

"I can assure you that there will be no need for another bailout for the SABC."

Digital migration, audience decline cutting into revenue

"The SABC revenue decline - one of the themes that drive it is the migration from linear to digital platforms," Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told the committee. 

"In our new financial year, our focus also 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. 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 video streamer to launch Q3 2022

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.

The SABC initially said it would launch before the end of its current financial year which ends 31 March 2022.

Ian Plaatjes said 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. And 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."

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 its 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: Launch of SABC's video streaming service pushed to next financial year, delayed to sometime before March 2023.

ALSO READ: 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.

SABC TV Licence amnesty plan will wipe away billions in old fees that the South African public broadcaster wants replaced with a public media tax on all.

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC and the South African government are advancing on a plan for SABC TV Licence amnesty that will simultaneously wipe billions of rands in long-overdue payments from the broadcaster's balance sheet and give millions of TV households a clean slate to start paying fees without back payments obligations, together with a plan to replace the shambolic licence scheme with a new tax in the form of a "public media levy".

In Wednesday's meeting of parliament's select committee on public enterprises and communications both the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the minister of communications and digital technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, again touched upon the SABC's application, made months ago, of a SABC TV Licence amnesty.

A SABC TV Licence fee amnesty will help to get rid of a mountain of built-up licence fee debt the broadcaster has no hope to ever recover. It might also help to encourage TV households with a mountain of SABC TV Licence fee debt to start paying again with a clean slate, and for new TV households not captured on the system, to come forward and register.

"We have supported the SABC in their request for an amnesty on TV licence issues. We are awaiting the concurrence of the National Treasury to take the matter to cabinet to make sure there is an amnesty on SABC TV licences," Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told the committee.

In 2017 the SABC wrote off a staggering R17.7 billion in outstanding SABC TV Licence fees that it no longer had any hope of recovering. Yet the struggling public broadcaster is owed billions more in outstanding SABC TV Licence fees that simply pile up year after year.

The SABC told parliament in 2017 that millions of South African TV households owe the SABC billions in rand that it will never be able to ever recover in real life. "Certain grannies have R15 000 owing – R9 000 in licences, R6 000 in penalties. It just doesn't make sense."

In 2021 just 21% - only 2.2 million out of the 10.3 million SABC TV Licence holders that the broadcaster is aware of - bothered to still pay their annual TV licence during the 2020/2021 financial year.

Millions more TV households than just this 10.3 million on the SABC's TV Licence database exist in South Africa that the broadcaster doesn't know of, that it had failed to capture with its outdated database system, and who are watching television without paying any fee.

The SABC is therefore in favour of doing away with a SABC TV Licence and for it to be replaced with a new type of general tax in the form of a so-called "media levy" that will cast a much wider net and remove the responsibility from the SABC of having to get TV households to pay a licence fee.

On Wednesday, Philly Moilwa, SABC general manager of regulatory affairs, told parliament that the SABC TV Licence fee should be scrapped.

"The current SABC TV Licence fee system should be scrapped and replaced with a device-independent, tech-neutral public media levy for public broadcasting, which would levy all households, commercial enterprises, organisations and institutions."

"This household levy is founded on the fact that every single South African household has the realistic expectation to access public broadcasting content ... Therefore the levy is linked to the public's ability to access public broadcasting content rather than on the consumption of that content."

Philly Moilwa said that it's not about what device you are using to access TV content "because that is going to make life very difficult for anyone to be made accountable in terms of paying SABC TV Licence fees. We are saying let us adopt a public media levy that is going to make everyone able to pay".

ALSO READ: Only 2.2 out of 10.3 million still bother to pay for a SABC TV Licence as the South African public broadcaster struggles with declining audiences.

TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK: The SABC is giving me just 5 days to pay for the renewal of my SABC TV Licence, says it doesn't have to give consumers 30 days notice.

Thinus Ferreira

The SABC is giving me just 5 days to pay for the renewal of my annual SABC TV Licence - before adding monthly late payment fees - with the South African public broadcaster saying it doesn't have to give anyone 30 days notice that their TV licence must be paid.

With less than 24% of the TV households that the SABC are aware of, still bothering to pay a SABC TV Licence, the public broadcaster's approach to its public broadcasting "customers" leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to making TV Licence holders pay, or want to pay to renew these. 

At 14:00 on Thursday 26 August the SABC emailed me, for the first time this year, a SABC TV Licence renewal notice demanding another annual payment of R265 for the next year before the end of the month.

That leaves just 5 days to pay before getting slapped with additional late fee penalities if any payment occurs after 31 August.

The SABC notes in its email that "TV licence fees are payable in advance therefore your account needs to be renewed by no later than 31 August 2021. The amount payable on or before this date is R265".

"Pay yours and made a difference," says the renewal notice that doesn't contain any invoice but just a statement of the previous year's payment and the next amount suddenly due. 

The SABC doesn't send other emails to consumers or use the SABC TV Licence email database to communicate other messages during the rest of the year, for instance around its content or how licence money was spent, that would make licence-payers more amenable to pay their annual fee when the time comes.

I asked the SABC in a media query why it sends a SABC TV Licence renewal notice with just 5 days to pay, and why a consumer isn't entitled to an invoice, issued to a consumer at least 30 days ahead of the date that payment is requested and why the SABC is not doing and adhering to this.

Gugu Ntuli, the SABC's group executive for corporate affairs and marketing, says that the SABC doesn't need to give anyone 30 days notice to pay a SABC TV Licence.

"The SABC takes into account key regulations when the corporation issues the renewal notices to customers. Regulation 24 of the TV Licence regulations published in the Government Gazette No 25959 of 28 January 2004 requires the SABC to send renewal notices to licence holders."

"It must be noted that the TV Licence legislation does not prescribe the 30-days notice as purported. Secondly, regulation 17 of the TV Licence regulations stipulate that all TV Licence fees are payable in advance. Paragraph 4 of the renewal notice to the client states that the licence holders licensing year commences on 1 September 2021."

"This means the TV Licence expires on 31 August 2021 and new licensing cycle starts on 1 September hence payment should be made by 31 August 2021". 

'DStv should collect on our behalf'

Earlier this year Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament that the SABC sits with a massive 76% SABC TV Licence "evasion rate", meaning that 76% of South African TV households that the public broadcaster are aware of and send a SABC TV Licence bill to, do not bother to pay their annual licence fee. 

Only 24% are still paying with the rate that keeps declining as the country's overall TV watching universe expands. 

Besides the SABC's TV Licence database there are millions more South African TV households with one or more TV sets that the SABC is not aware of and that don't have licences. 

The SABC wants legislation to be changed to force private commercial companies within the broadcasting sector, like MultiChoice and StarTimes who have kept their subscribers' details up to date, to add on SABC TV Licence fees to consumers' bills and to collect licence fees on the SABC's behalf.

MultiChoice as a private pay-TV operator is vehemently against the plan and says it will never do this or allow it to happen.

Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, earlier this year said that MultiChoice "can't be collecting for the SABC".

"Our position is simply very clear: We can't be held responsible for collecting money on behalf of the SABC. The SABC itself needs to find a way to collect such monies."

Earlier this month, SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini told the Media & Society show on SABC News (DStv 404) that "the dominant pay-TV providers should collect on behalf of the SABC because they've got systems - they've got 8.2 million households in their system so they can really assist us".

"Why they should help is because the current regulatory framework has benefitted them at the expense of the public broadcaster. So it's one way of really redress and addressing the imbalances and how they've benefitted unfairly; they must help us collect that levy."

MultiChoice: We won't add on SABC TV Licence fees to DStv subscribers' bills and collect licensing fees on behalf of South Africa's public broadcaster.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice is adamant that the struggling South African public broadcaster's ongoing problems with trying to collect SABC TV Licence fees is a problem of the SABC's own doing, with MultiChoice that says as a private pay-TV operator it is opposed against plans to tack on SABC TV Licence fees on DStv subscriptions and simply won't do it.

With only 24% - a falling percentage - of TV households still bothering to pay for a SABC TV Licence, the South Africa public broadcaster and the country's department of communications and digital technologies, are desperate to try and dig the struggling SABC out of its financial black hole through finding new additional income streams.

Part of the aggressive new plan contained in draft legislation from communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, is to enlarge the fishing net of available SABC TV Licence revenue beyond the public broadcaster's own struggling collection fees division.

Changes to legislation would make private companies like pay-TV providers, as well as local and global video streaming services with a presence in South Africa, responsible for ensuring that their customers have a valid TV licence or to tack it on as a fee - whether those consumers watch the SABC or not.

Owners of tablets and laptops will also be forced to have and pay a SABC TV Licence whether they watch or consumer SABC content or not.

Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament in February that the SABC sits with a massive 76% SABC TV Licence "evasion rate", meaning that 76% of South African TV households that the public broadcaster are aware of and send a SABC TV Licence bill to, do not bother to pay their annual licence fee. 

Only 24% are still paying with the rate that keeps declining as the country's overall TV watching universe expands. 

Besides the SABC's TV Licence database there are millions more South African TV households with one or more TV sets that the SABC is not aware of and that don't have licences.

Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, in the pay-TV operator's investors' call on Friday following the release of its latest annual financial report for the year ending 31 March 2021, responded to a question regarding SABC TV Licence fees and said that MultiChoice "can't be collecting for the SABC".

"Our position is simply very clear: We can't be held responsible for collecting money on behalf of the SABC. The SABC itself needs to find a way to collect such monies."

"We further made it clear that we think this is an old way of thinking around a public service mandate. There are much more better ways of [finding] public service funding that we have seen all over the world where people have moved away from a device into a public service contribution wherein tax payers are able to contribute a little bit and the public broadcaster is able to survive," Calvo Mawela said.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice sheds another 100 000 premium DStv subscribers and with it comes further top-channels ratings share erosion - but that doesn't mean advertisers will pay less to reach these dwindling but sought-after viewers.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice coins it during Covid and grows to 20.9 million subscribers although it continues to shed top-end DStv customers jumping to video streaming.   

'A road to hell': South Africa's parliament told that a new TV tax on DStv and Netflix will make people more interested to watch SABC.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African government's controversial plan for an expanded new TV tax described as "a road to hell" is gathering steam with claims that a law to force laptop and tablet owners as well as DStv, StarSat and Netflix subscribers to pay for the SABC will generate more money for the broadcaster and "will get people more interested in watching programmes of the SABC".

With only 24% - a falling percentage - of TV households still bothering to pay for a SABC TV Licence, the South Africa public broadcaster and the country's department of communications and digital technologies, are desperate to try and dig the struggling SABC out of its financial black hole through finding new additional income streams.

Part of the aggressive new plan contained in draft legislation from communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, is to enlarge the fishing net of available SABC TV Licence revenue beyond the public broadcaster's own struggling collection fees division.

Changes to legislation would make private companies like pay-TV providers, as well as local and global video streaming services with a presence in South Africa, responsible for ensuring that their customers have a valid TV licence or to tack it on as a fee - whether those consumers watch the SABC or not.

Owners of tablets and laptops will also be forced to have and pay a SABC TV Licence whether they watch or consumer SABC content or not.

The initial inclusion of smartphones that was included in the plan as well has now been dropped from the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio-Visual Content Services Policy Framework.

A grudge purchase

During an appearance of the SABC top executives and board as well as the department of communications before parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Tuesday and where the broadcaster shared details of its financial situation, it once again became clear how the vast majority of South Africans are going out of their way to avoid paying a SABC TV Licence.

A growing number of South Africans regard a must-buy SABC TV Licence as a once-off grudge purchase in order to buy a TV set. 

In 2019 the SABC had 401 321 new TV Licence holders who paid for one just to buy a TV set. Of them, only 68 093 bothered to pay for a first-time renewal when it was due after a year.

"This percentage of 17% of first-time SABC TV Licence renewals have been higher in the past, so clearly either the evasion rate or the attractiveness of the SABC's content did not speak to our audiences," Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO told parliament.

Meanwhile, the SABC sits with a massive 76% SABC TV Licence "evasion rate" meaning that 76% of South African TV households that the public broadcaster are aware of and send a SABC TV Licence bill to, do not bother to pay their annual licence fee. 

Only 24% are still paying with the rate that keeps declining as the country's overall TV watching universe expands. 

Besides the SABC's TV Licence database there are millions more South African TV households with one or more TV sets that the SABC is not aware of and that don't have licences. 

There are also many millions more DStv and StarSat subscribers, as well as people with laptops and tablets, and a growing number of Netflix, Showmax and Amazon Prime Video subscribers.

'A road to hell'

On Tuesday Zandile Majozi, IFP MP, said "With the SABC draft bill moving for SABC TV Licence fees to the streaming services of Netflix - we support that. We believe it's a good strategy to begin with".

"It will generate more income for the public broadcaster and also it will get people more interested in watching programmes of the SABC".

Cameron MacKenzie, DA MP, warned that "we've seen a general public outcry at the minister's initiatives or ideas around collecting from Netflix and Showmax and MultiChoice and these other things of 'when you get a phone you must get a TV licence'."

"If you read the national mood, I think it will be very dangerous for any politician or any minister to go down in that direction - it really is a road to hell. I think we should stay well away from that," he said.

Pinky Kekana, the deputy minister of communications, said that "the industry is moving aggressively moving online and the SABC is trailing behind".

"The main goal is for us to declare the SABC as public service media. And once we do that, then it will be able to be competitive".

"If you look at the old TV1 which was predominantly English and Afrikaans, the old Springbok radio - they were well funded."

New 'public household levy' for the SABC 

She said that the South African government is looking at introducing a type of "public household levy that can assist the SABC to then have proper funding".

"We must initiate some of the discussions, mindful of what Cameron MacKenzie was saying. We can't fold our arms and say the status quo must remain when we know our public broadcaster is dwindling".

"These are the things that we should put in the public arena and look at whether government can fund the SABC directly from the fiscus or whether we can be creative in looking at the household levy".

Pinky Kekana said that "both from the department's side and from the SABC's side we're working very closely together to say, 'What are the options?' And these are not conclusive. Members can still look into some of those things, and indeed even when the amendments to the audio and audio-visual white paper engagement takes place".

Over 110 000 people sign petitions against the South African government's SABC TV Licence plan for Netflix, DStv, laptops and tablets.

by Thinus Ferreira

Over 110 000 South Africans have so far complained about and objected to the government's "SABC stealth-tax" plan through which it wants to force consumers with laptops, tablets, DStv and StarSat decoders, as well as subscribers watching Netflix and Showmax to pay for a SABC TV Licence even if they're not watching any SABC content.

Today is the deadline for South Africans to comment on the department of communications and digital technologies' controversial plan to expand the compulsory SABC TV Licence net under the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio-visual Content Services Policy Framework. 

Thousands of people have already signed petitions against the proposed legislation changes of Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, minister of communications and digital technologies, with the proposed law that will force people to pay a SABC TV Licence fee if they have or use a laptop or tablet, if they are a DStv or StarSat or any pay-TV subscriber, or even if they're a Netflix or Showmax subscriber.

Since the first draft was issued smartphones have now been dropped from the list of devices.

By Monday over 82 000 people have signed a petition that was started by the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party in late-2020 slamming the move and saying that the "SABC must find creative ways to self-sustain and break-even without making people like you fork out any more money".

Another petition from Dear South Africa by Monday had amassed over 37 000 signatures and comments against Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams’s proposals.

The proposed changes in legislation aim to widen the catchment area and scope of compulsory SABC TV Licence fees through forcing consumers to pay for a SABC TV Licence if they have or buy a laptop or tablet even if they're not watching or listening to any SABC content.

Video content companies like MultiChoice and StarTimes SA will likewise be forced to ensure that DStv subscribers and StarSat subscribers have a SABC TV Licence or will otherwise have to tack that on the billing of their subscription fees, or will have to make sure they have one when buying a pay-TV decoder, similar to what the current situation is when buying a TV set.

According to the white paper proposals, local and international subscription video-on-demand services (SVOD) like Netflix, Showmax, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, VIU and a range of other video streamers will likewise have to ensure that every single subscriber is a valid SABC TV Licence holder or add on a SABC TV Licence fee to their existing monthly subscription fees, even if their subscribers watch no SABC content.

"The DA stands with the thousands of South Africans who reject the department of communications and digital technologies' plan to extend SABC TV licence fees to these online platforms," says Zakhele Mbhele, the party's spokesperson for communications.

"It is outrageous that South Africans need to cough up money for watching 'broadcast services' regardless of whether they watch it on a television, a computer, or a tablet. The only reason the ANC wants to amend the law to include other devices other than a television set, is to implement a 'stealth bail-out' for the SABC."

According to Sylvia Tladi, head of the SABC’s TV Licence division, South Africa now has a "digital population" of 36.54 million internet users (34.93 million mobile internet users) and the SABC wants legislation changed so that "other entities must be compelled to report on the sale, lease or usage of these 'television sets' or viewing devices".

She says "the proposed revised legislation will also motivate pay-TV operators to hold their subscribers accountable for registering or having a valid television licence before the subscription, purchase or rental of a decoder, is granted".

"Furthermore, submitted regulations aim to make it obligatory for internet streaming and television streaming websites to pay a percentage of subscription fees to the SABC, where these websites stream SABC content."

ALSO READ: Time running out for South African video consumers to say if they want DStv and Netflix to add and collect SABC TV Licence fees with their payments.

South Africa's Democratic Alliance (DA) political party starts a petition against controversial SABC TV Licence plan for video streamers and pay-TV operators like Netflix and DStv.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has started a petition that is against the ANC-led government's controversial plan to introduce new legislation to force viewers to pay for a SABC TV Licence for smartphones and tablets, and that would force video streamers like Netflix and pay-TV operators like MultiChoice to collect SABC TV Licence fees from DStv subscribers by adding it to their bills. 

"You should not have to pay a cent more to keep the SABC afloat! The public has already had to suffer the consequences of the billions in bailouts the SABC has received via the public purse," says the DA political party in its new online petition. "The SABC must find creative ways to self-sustain and break-even without making people like you fork out any more money."

"Given the emergence of streaming services like Netflix, Apple TV+, Showmax, Amazon Prime Video and others, the department of communications and digital technologies proposes broadening the definition of a 'broadcasting service' to include online broadcasting services," says the DA.

"This means that you would have to pay a SABC TV Licence fee for watching any 'broadcasting services', including streaming services, regardless of whether it’s on a TV, a computer or a phone."

The DA joins the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) that it its submission to the controversial plan asks "Why should Netflix and Netflix be obliged to collect revenue on behalf of another entity and how will this initiative be facilitated? Furthermore, how will the money be collected and then handed over to the SABC?"

"How will subscribers practically be managed because Netflix and DStv subscribers may signup

and cancel at any time?"

The financially struggling South African public broadcaster that once again suspended its retrenchment process until 2021 due to political and trade union pressure, made a net loss of R511 million for its 2019/2020 financial year and is on track to make a loss in excess of R1.2 billion in the next financial year.

Less than a third of South African TV households that the SABC is aware of as having a SABC TV Licence still bothers to pay it.

The proposal to shift the burden of collecting SABC TV Licence fees on behalf of the SABC is contained in the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio-visual Content Services Policy Framework: A New Vision for South Africa 2020.

Besides making private companies responsible for collecting SABC TV Licence fees because the SABC is unable to, the draft proposal also wants to force local and international video streaming services like Netflix, Showmax, Amazon Prime Video and others in future, to carry at least 30% local content in the country.

It might, however, have an unintended consequence in that these global streamers that can't upsize local content for just one market will likely rather reduce the content they unlock for availability in a specific region like South Africa in order to get to 30%.

Forcing streamers to have a third of their content be local South African series and films will likely end up hurting consumers by taking away choice if these streamers, in order to comply, instead decide to downsize instead of upsize their overall ringfenced offering for South Africa to comply as they chase a percentage.

ALSO READ: Time running out for South African video consumers to say if they want DStv and Netflix to add and collect SABC TV Licence fees with their payments.

ALSO READ: South Africa's government wants to force video streaming services like Netflix into a 30% local content quota: Here's why it's a bad plan and will end up hurting consumers.

ALSO READ: OUTA: Scrap the SABC TV Licence scheme, says organisation as it comments on South African government's controversial plan: 'Why should Netflix and DStv be obliged to collect revenue on behalf of another entity?'