SABC's Debt to Sentech Balloons to Staggering R1.8 Billion as Signal Distributor Warns 'Situation is Unsustainable'

by Thinus Ferreira

R1 billion. Then R1.5 billion. Then R1.6 billion, R1.7 billion and now the beleaguered and underpaying South Africa public broadcaster - at risk of getting its TV and radio signals cut - owes the parastatal signal distributor Sentech a whopping R1.8 billion.

The financially struggling SABC is now dragging down and crippling another government-run company, Sentech warns.

So far, SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli, South Africa's minister of communications and digital technologies Solly Malatsi from the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party, and the South African government's National Treasury, have all been kicking the debt can down the road.

After many months of a very glaring and ever-compounding existential problem, nobody has come up with any sustainable plan to deal with the broadcaster's runaway debt owed to Sentech.

Instead of paying it off or having any workable plan, the SABC's massive Sentech debt keeps growing month after month.

Tebogo Leshope, Sentech CEO, told parliament this past week that the SABC's gigantic debt, which it is simply not paying off and that keeps growing, is busy destroying Sentech financially.

"The debt today is sitting at R1.8 billion and this emanates from the SABC's short payments that started in 2020. The shortfalls are ongoing."

"Sentech is under serious financial and liquidity pressure in that regard," he noted.

He said that "the discussions are continuing. The situation is unsustainable.

In July, the SABC in a parliamentary briefing admitted that of its monthly Sentech bill of R71 million, it only pays R41 million per month or less.

Quite shocking, is that Nomsa Chabeli admitted a while ago that the SABC has no signed master transmission contract in place with Sentech - something absolutely crucial and a massive existential risk to the broadcaster's business.

It means that Sentech can rightly cut off the public broadcaster's TV and radio signals at any time since there is absolutely no official agreement in place between Sentech and the SABC to keep its signals on..

SABC that has no master transmission agreement warns black-on-air imminent since Sentech on verge of switching off its signals over R1 billion debt

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's struggling public broadcaster warns that the SABC is threatened by a black-on-air disaster since the parastatal signal distributor Sentech, owed more than R1 billion by the SABC, could cut its TV signals at any time.

In another shocking revelation, Nomsa Chabeli, SABC CEO, admitted that the public broadcaster no longer has a master transmission agreement with Sentech.

This is because the SABC which is already burdened with over R1 billion in Sentech debt, has until now refused to sign a new master transmission agreement since it would cost too much.

The debt-riddled SABC now wants the government to take over the Sentech debt, which Nomsa Chabeli says the SABC will never be able to repay.

Besides this, the broadcaster wants another R1.4 billion from the government to create new content over the next three years.

The SABC also wants to spend R3.15 billion to fix, repair and upgrade rundown infrastructure, studios and buildings, as well as obsolete and outdated workflow systems and technology. 

This is R3 billion that the SABC doesn't have but urgently needs to spend to ensure its survival.

The SABC started to fall behind with its monthly Sentech payments in 2020 and for a while made no payments.

By October 2020 the broadcaster had run up R300 million in unpaid Sentech debt, which ballooned to over R1 billion over the past five years due to monthly underpayments and interest.

Nomsa Chabeli warned parliament's portfolio committee for communications and digital technologies earlier this month in a presentation that black TV screens could soon be the reality for South African viewers since Sentech threatens to cut the SABC's TV signals at any moment.

"There's a significant risk of black-on-air in terms of the legacy debt from Sentech. We are now at a point where Sentech has indicated that they will begin switching off due to unpaid debt," Nomsa Chabeli said.

She now wants the South African government's department of communications and digital technologies to take over the more than R1 billion debt to Sentech and pay that on behalf of the SABC.

"The shareholder should consider taking over the legacy debt that is owed because the SABC is not in a situation to pay off this legacy debt of more than R1 billion," Nomsa Chabeli said.

"Currently, we are actually operating without a signed master transmission agreement with Sentech because we just don't have the financial capacity for the increased costs."

The SABC's signal distribution costs is now its third largest expense after workers compensation and content costs.

The SABC was asked what the SABC plans to do if the government doesn't take over and pay its Sentech debt. Mmoni Ngubane, SABC spokesperson didn't respond to the media query.

Sentech was also asked when it will start to switch off SABC signals, what the SABC's exact outstanding debt is and how much the SABC is currently paying monthly.

Penelope Ntuli, Sentech spokesperson declined to answer any of the questions posed and said "At present we are unable to provide responses to the questions raised, as internal processes are still underway".

Solly Malatsi, minister of communications and digital technologies, also didn't want to answer questions about the SABC's Sentech crisis.

The department was asked in a media query whether the department will be taking over the SABC's R1 billion Sentech debt, what Malatsi's reaction is over the SABC's lack of a basic master transmission agreement and what he is doing about the looming threat of SABC signals getting cut by Sentech.

Spokesperson Tlangelani Manganyi didn't respond to the media query.

At the end of May, Nomsa Chabeli told the portfolio committee that the SABC started to double its monthly payment to Sentech from R20 million to R40 million in April 2024 in an attempt to reduce its signal transmission debt.

"It was just before the general elections in may and it was important for us that the services not be disrupted in any form."

Nomsa Chabeli noted that there are instances where TV producers and production companies are not paid some months, so that Sentech can be paid.

"We pay Sentech first before we pay any of our service producers, meaning that producers come after the Sentech payment. We've maintained that payment despite a very, very challenging payment period."

She said "the department is very much aware of our cash flow position and the payment we have been making for the past year".

The SABC'S Sentech blackout over non-payment of R1.3 billion pushed out for another 2 months

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's embattled public broadcaster won't have its signals cut over non-payment for the next two months.

The cash-strapped and technically insolvent SABC is battling two major existential threats.

Firstly the SABC is facing signal loss and having the signals from its TV and radio channels axed by parastatal signal distributor Sentech which the SABC simply stopped paying and owes over R1.3 billion. Sentech has threatened that it will cut the broadcaster's signals.

Secondly, the SABC that has experienced a massive TV ratings loss due to it already, faces the dire threat of having millions of its viewers completely wiped away when the South African government plans to switch off the last of South Africa's analogue signal towers on 31 December before viewers have been properly help to migrate to digital terrestrial television (DTT) options.

Now Solly Malatsi, South Africa's latest minister of communications and digital technologies, says he has intervened to prevent Sentech from axing the SABC's signals for at least another two months.

That gives the SABC some further breathing space on the one problem, although Malatsi remains silent on the SABC's looming analogue switch-off disaster which is as pressing a problem.

Malatsi in a statement says he intervened and set up a meeting between the SABC and Sentech to find a solution to the SABC's inability and unwillingness to pay Sentech and the risk that South Africans would be cut off due to the SABC's non-payment.

Malatsi says the latest agreement is that Sentech "will not switch off the public broadcaster for at least the next two months while we are exploring options to have a long-term sustainability model for the SABC".

"These options include National Treasury's decision on the application by the SABC to reclassify its grant which would allow for part of its allocation to be used to pay Sentech for signal distribution services."

Malatsi says "While the SABC has been making steady progress towards improving its financial standing, the fact is that it has not been able to fully pay Sentech for services rendered. At the same time, Sentech is at risk of running out of cash due to the non-payment, a risk that may even affect other broadcasters".

"I am determined to prioritise the development and finalisation of the financial model for the SABC to ensure that it becomes sustainable, able to pay its creditors and to deliver on its core function of providing accessible, diverse, and impartial news, entertainment, and educational content to the public."

A million decoders: The South African public broadcaster wants to start a SABC satellite TV service.

Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster which has no money to pay for the project itself, is looking for a company to manufacture a million decoders and start a SABC satellite TV service for it for free.

The technically insolvent SABC - struggling with falling TV ratings and declining viewership through audience erosion due to rival streaming and satellite TV - now wants to start its own SABC satellite TV service, or direct-to-home (DTH) service.

The SABC is looking for a company to bear 100% of the cost to set up its SABC satellite TV service, manufacture and distribute set-top boxes (STB), and to create and run a call centre for five years.

As part of the extremely ambitious requirements, the SABC wants 100 000 decoders of what is supposed to be a million eventually, pushed to market by the end of the year when the last of its analogue TV signals are switched off.

The SABC is envious of eMedia's Openview satellite TV service which has surpassed 3.42 million activated decoders by the end of March this year since e.tv launched Openview a decade ago in October 2013.

Openview helped to buffer e.tv against TV ratings erosion, gave e.tv another entry point into homes, allowed eMedia to launch its own multi-TV-channel offering and start a subscription bouquet as an additional revenue stream. 

The SABC wants its own 4K-resolution enabled STBs to carry its own existing collection of SABC TV channels, as well as its 19 SABC radio channels.

From SABC DTT to satellite TV

According to the public broadcaster, South Africa's severely botched, almost two decades-delayed process of switching from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television (DTT) has severely damaged its once-entrenched market position.

SABC audience sizes keep diminishing which negatively impacts its advertising income as more and more SABC viewers are cut off and switch to other broadcasters when they can no longer get SABC signals.

eMedia has already said that South Africa's TV switchover from analogue to DTT technology is outdated, damaging the country's TV and broadcasting industry, and consumers have leapfrogged past it.

The SABC dabbled in its first satellite TV service almost thirty years ago when it launched its own AstraSat in 1996 a year after MultiChoice started DStv in 1995.

The SABC blew millions of rand on starting AstraSat which massively damaged the broadcaster financially when AstraSat launched with a bouquet of the SABC's TV channels and a few others like M-Net which packaged a special SuperSport "lite" channel for AstraSat that the SABC paid for similar to the sport sublicensing deals it does with SuperSport now.

Just a year and a half later in February 1998 the SABC was forced to cut its enormous losses and abruptly shuttered AstraSat to rather concentrate on its existing analogue broadcast network with distribution done by Sentech.

In a tender document, the SABC says it needs its own satellite TV service to combat the "devastating effect of analogue switch-off on viewers on 31 December" and that the creation of its own satellite service will enable the broadcaster to take control of its future broadcast destiny and to "position the SABC as a content aggregator, to add additional TV channels to the existing bouquet and to consolidate audiences through a single platform".

The SABC says DTT is severely limiting and doesn't allow it to grow its number of TV channels, nothing that its existing offering of six SABC TV channels are an extremely weak value offering since rivals easily offer 10 or more channels.

The SABC notes that the delays in rolling out DTT have eroded SABC viewership while competitors grew their ratings at the cost of the public broadcaster. 

The SABC says that it is in danger of losing another 1.7 million viewers by 31 December when Sentech cuts the last of its analogue transmissions countrywide.

Sentech already switched off 198 analogue signals from transmission towers across several provinces, cutting off millions of viewers who can no longer get SABC reception through the TV sets they used to receive it.

SABC satellite decoders

Now the SABC wants a satellite TV service again with a partner that will have to shoulder 100% of the operating costs - including establishing and running a call centre and the manufacture and distribution of decoders.

According to a new SABC tender for which applications closed on Monday at noon, the SABC prefers that whichever company takes on the multimillion-rand project, uses the IS20 satellite transponder which MultiChoice, as well as eMedia and Sentech, have already been using for their DStv and Openview satellite TV services.

By using the IS20-transponder, households with an existing satellite dish installation to watch DStv or Openview through those decoders, will be able to simply plug-and-play the SABC's service by connecting the SABC decoder to the existing satellite dish cable.

According to the SABC, the already existing network of installers and agents of DStv, Openview and Startimes SA's StarSat would then also be able to do installations of the SABC's STBs.

The successful bidder will have to carry the cost of satellite transponder uplinking and the full capital expenditure of a "turnkey-solution" for the SABC which will run into millions, "at no cost for the SABC".

Besides the first 100 000 decoders to be manufactured, the SABC eventually wants a million decoders in the market for its satellite TV project, with a 50/50-share between a basic type of decoder and a more luxury, hybrid type STB.

The basic SABC decoder will just work with a normal satellite TV dish mounted outside, while the more expensive hybrid STB - similar to eMedia's latest Openview OV512 decoder - must offer built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 functionality and be able to connect to the internet.

This more expensive SABC decoder will have to offer the broadcaster's SABC+ streaming service and allow viewers to record, download and store content and programmes, similar to MultiChoice's DStv Explora decoders.

By the end of September, the SABC wants to see a manufactured prototype decoder which the successful bidder must "demo" to the broadcaster in a presentation, before mass production starts - preferably somewhere in South Africa according to the SANS-1719 requirements.

The SABC says it projects to have a million users of its own SABC satellite TV service after half a decade.

It's unclear how the SABC expects the successful bidder to make money from the project or recoup its massive investment, although the SABC says it expects the partner to make a "profit-sharing" proposal.

In June the SABC fired its COO and head of video entertainment, while its ad boss resigned, after they were found guilty of deliberately hiding an ad revenue profit-sharing agreement with Discover Digital which got a contract to run the broadcaster's SABC+ video streaming service.

SABC: Looking for a turnkey solution

The SABC confirmed to me that the broadcaster wants its own satellite TV service, done for the SABC as a complete turnkey solution.

"The SABC can confirm that the organisation is in pursuit of the development and implementation of a free-to-air (FTA) direct-to-home (DTH) solution as an additional platform strategy," Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson said in response to questions.

"It must be noted that this is the implementation of the SABC's long-standing digital transformation strategy which includes building SABC-owned platforms and being present in multi-platforms with capabilities for multi-channels, as well as futureproofing the organisation."

She says "Like any other strategy journey, there are priorities as well as milestones and as such, the SABC has recently successfully implemented the OTT platform, SABC+. The next step is the implementation of the DTH platform."

"In terms of DTT, the SABC is already on the DTT platform. Therefore, the introduction of a DTH solution is another strategy in line with the SABC's mandate to provide universal access."

"The SABC is looking for a partner to collaborate with, in providing this solution. The SABC will provide content and the partner will provide other elements as covered in the turnkey solution".

An industry expert told me that a SABC satellite TV service "is a good idea which should have happened years ago since the SABC could have had a satellite TV service of its own now, with the market penetration and audience that Openview and e.tv currently have".

"It's a big risk however for whoever takes on this massive project - and for free. Perhaps the SABC should ask Elon Musk to do it - he has the satellites and he's got billions he can lose."

South Africa's parastatal signal distributor Sentech launches its Freevision Play video streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's overcrowded video streaming space just got another service with the parastatal signal distributor Sentech which launched Freevision Play on Wednesday.

Freevision Play joins a litany of available local and international video streaming services in South Africa which already saw a shake-out that saw market entrants like Altech Node, PCCW's OnTAPTV, Cell C's Black, Telkom ONE, Vodacom's Video Play, Acorn TV and the BBC's BritBox shutter.

Freevision Play will now try and compete in South Africa against MultiChoice and Comcast NBCUniversal's relaunched Showmax, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV+, the public broadcaster's SABC+ and eMedia's eVOD. 

Smaller players like PCCW Media's VIU, Jou Afrikaans, Marquee TV, AfriForumTV, PrideTV and CineMagic also exist and are trying to sign up subscribers.

On Wednesday when the service made its debut, Freevision Play at freevisionplay.co.za carried no SABC TV channels but had the community TV channels Cape Town TV (CTV), 1KZN TV, Soweto TV, Tshwane TV, Faith TV and South Africa's government-funded BRICS Africa Channel.

Radio channels like Vuma FM, Engcobo FM, Moutse FM, Pheli FM, Mohodi FM, Waterberg Wave Radio and Ekhephini Community Radio are also available but no SABC radio stations.

Freevision Play is free and available online, as well as an app for major smartphone operating systems with Sentech noting that it can be "acccessed via smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs".

Sentech says Freevision Play is "a groundbreaking over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platform designed to provide seamless and free access to a wide array of local and community TV and radio channels".

Sentech isn't disclosing how much it cost and what it spent to create Freevision Play as a late OTT entrant but says it is "part of our ongoing commitment to digital transformation and enhancing connectivity" to "bridge the digital divide by offering rich, diverse content to all South Africans".

According to the signal distributor, Freevision Play "offers broadcasters an innovative solution to reach a broader audience without the high costs associated with creating and maintaining their own OTT platforms and the challenge of aggregating audiences".

"By joining Freevision Play, broadcasters can expand their viewership, engage with their audience more effectively, and generate additional revenue through advertising. Freevision Play takes care of the upfront investment costs. It creates a multitenant platform, giving viewers and listeners a diverse range of choices while providing broadcasters with new audiences and viewers."

Sentech says Freevision Play has "a wide range of live TV and radio channels along with on-demand content" and features Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels.

According to Kopano Thage, Sentech's executive for media business "The launch of Freevision Play marks a significant milestone in Sentech's journey of addressing universal access to towards enhancing digital connectivity and content accessibility in South Africa".

"By providing free, high-quality content to all South Africans, we are not only bridging the digital divide but also empowering our communities with information and entertainment. We are excited to see how Freevision Play will transform the way people engage with media and support the growth of local broadcasters."

South Africa's government silent on its planned R1 billion streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African government is silent after plans leaked that the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) plans to start its own video streaming service at a cost of over R1 billion.

The Rapport and City Press newspapers on Sunday quoted sources noting that the GCIS is working on setting up its own over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, budgeted to cost around R1 billion, and already started canvassing for presenters, camera operators and voice-over artists in all 11 languages.

After the SABC launched its own SABC+ video streaming in mid-November, and the parastatal signal distributor Sentech had said it also has plans to start a streaming service, the GCIS plan is raising eyebrows since the SABC just reported yet another annual loss of R1.13 billion saying the government isn't doing enough financially to help fund the public broadcaster's so-called unfunded broadcast mandate.

William Baloyi, GCIS spokesperson, told TVwithThinus on Tuesday morning in response to a media query asking about the OTT setup and for confirmation and clarity around its cost that "For now we are not in a position to offer any comment, however we will make the announcement at the appropriate time".

It's unclear what the GCIS streaming service would show with parliamentary coverage already carried on parliamentary TV channels and on parliament's existing YouTube channel.

Natasha Mazzone, shadow minister of communications of the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party on Tuesday said the DA will submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to the presidency over the GCIS' plan "to develop a streaming service, which will cost the taxpayer R1 billion".

Natasha Mazzone said that communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni must urgently provide answers.

"A government streaming service is not only a waste of taxpayer funds but is also unnecessary, as GCIS already makes use of social media platforms and YouTube for its broadcasts," she says.

"Parliament also shares its broadcasts on YouTube with no issues. Further, the SABC, South Africa's public broadcaster, already has a streaming platform, as it seeks to make its constitutional mandate more accessible to the public."

"GCIS' plans seek to contradict the SABC. This once again demonstrates how out of touch and depth this administration has become, with little regard for the genuine interests of South Africans."

South Africa's TV industry set for worst ratings damage ever in 2022 due to Eskom's electricity blackouts and analogue signals switch-off.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's television industry and broadcasters - already struggling with sagging TV ratings due to millions of TV households getting cut off from the ability to receive TV signals in the government's switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television - are facing the worst TV ratings damage ever in 2022 because of Eskom's debilitating electricity blackouts.

Bloomberg reports that South Africa is set for the worst year of power cuts as the country's decrepit Eskom power stations continue to fail and that at the current rate of Eskom electricity blackouts, South Africa is on track to have a record Eskom electricity blackout year in 2022.

Eskom's euphemistically called "load-shedding" has an immediate and destructive impact on South Africa's Television Audience Measurement Survey (TAMS) system, with Eskom's rolling power blackouts wiping millions of viewers and TV households from the measurement grid whenever the struggling monopoly power utility is forced to start stages of unplanned power cuts in the country.

Eskom is on track to exceed the annual record for staged electricity cuts, according to South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. 

The record Eskom load-shedding will therefore translate to record TV ratings damage which is monitored by Nielsen SA and the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA).

Besides Eskom power cuts wiping millions of TV households from the ratings grid and affecting everyone - from pay-TV operators like China's StarTimes operating as StarSat and MultiChoice's DStv, to the SABC and eMedia's e.tv and Openview - the country's broadcasters are also seeing viewers evaporate in the government's push to switch off analogue Sentech signals.

eMedia has once again taken South Africa's minister of communications to court over her suddenly rushed analogue signals switch-off schedule, while the SABC's TV ratings has started to sag from month-to-month over the past half a year since Sentech signal distribution got cut in province after province, with decreases in viewership in turn affecting advertising revenue.

CTV warns: Millions of South African viewers to lose free TV access in government's rushed switch-off plan.

by Thinus Ferreira

Cape Town TV (CTV) is joining the chorus of extremely concerned voices warning about the South African government's suddenly-rushed plan to switch off all analogue TV signals in the country at the end of the month, warning that millions of viewers will lose their TV access and that it will damage free-to-air television and TV ratings.

It comes as e.tv's case against the government's switch-off date will be heard in the Pretoria high court on Monday and Tuesday 14 and 15 March.

After South Africa's minister of communications and digital technologies Khumbudzo Ntshavheni suddenly switched to an aggressive province-by-province analogue TV signals switch-off schedule in 2021 - with the digital migration process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) now envisioned to end by 31 March - free-to-air TV ratings have started to fall as broadcasters lose viewers who haven't switched to set-top boxes (STBs) or new TV sets, and affecting ad rates.

After Sentech's analogue transmission towers for the SABC were switched off in the Free State - the first province to lose analogue television signals - TV viewers of the public broadcaster in 2021 plunged by a fifth (20%), with the SABC losing almost half of its TV audience (46%) in the Northern Cape and 34% of its TV ratings in the North West after those provinces lost their analogue transmissions.

eMedia took the decision to take the government to court to postpone the pronounced cut-off date of 31 March, with the case which will be heard today and tomorrow in the Pretoria high court.

Civil society groups like the Right2Know Campaign warn that the government is going to leave millions of ordinary South Africans without television access after 31 March and unable to get news, information and education programming.

In a statement, the department of communications and digital technologies says it "has noted with concern the misinformation and false claims that there is a pending loss of free-to-air television in South Africa".

"The misinformation seeks to create unnecessary anxiety about the end of dual illumination period and the gazetted analogue switch-off date of 31 March 2022. The claim that 14 million South Africans are going to lose free-to-air television on 31st March 2022 are preponderous at best and a figment of imagination at worst."

The department says poor households earning less than R3500 per month who applied for a government-subsidised STB by 31 October 2021 "will be connected before the switch-off and those who applied after the cut-off date will be connected within 3 to 6 months of the analogue switch-off date".

SA 'ill-prepared for analogue TV switch-off'

Like e.tv, the community TV station Cape Town TV says it is fighting to keep its analogue broadcast signal on-air "as the country stumbles towards the end of analogue TV transmission".

CTV says many of its current free-to-air viewers will lose access to the channel on 31 March since there are "too few digital TV receivers in the market".

"Our research shows that South Africans are very ill-prepared for the switch-off," says Karen Thorne, CTV station director.

"This presents a serious problem for all free-to-air broadcasters on the DTT platform. This is why e.tv is suing the government to postpone the analogue switch-off and its legal documents include community TV broadcasters as affected parties."

She says poor households who register to get an STB will still have to wait "many months before you get the device".

"Most of the existing government stocks have been earmarked for the 1.3 million people who have already registered and there is no telling when more will be available. The global chip shortage is a complicating factor that will extend the wait."

Millions of viewers to lose TV access

Karen Thorne says "We are certain that millions of South Africans are going to lose access to television if the analogue switch-off takes place as scheduled at the end of March".

"We know that less than half of the government decoders have been installed nationally and there are few decoders available for those who do not qualify for the subsidised devices. The major retail stores don't stock them so you have to find one at a specialist retailer or online supplier."

"We don't know how many digital TV sets with integrated tuners are out there, but we do know from the Broadcasting Research Council (BRC) that the proportion of television households that only receive free-to-air television stands at around 5.6 million."

"Multiply that figure by an average of 2.5 people in a TV household and that gives you an estimate of 14 million affected people. Many of these viewers are going to find themselves without television on April Fool's Day if analogue signals are switched off, particularly in the cities."

She says that a significant loss of audience will be tough on free-to-air broadcasters and could even be catastrophic for community TV channels like Cape Town TV.

"But the woes of the community TV sector don't end there - SA’s community television stations are being forced to shift from their local focus to become provincial broadcasters."

"While the expansion of broadcast footprints will bring more potential viewers into the ambit of community TV activities, it poses significant challenges for community broadcasters."

"For one thing, it dramatically increases transmission costs because many more transmitters must be hired from the national signal distributor, Sentech."

"CTV's signal distribution costs will rise from R60 000 a month to R1.8 million a month - an increase of 2900%," she says.

"We have been raising this issue with the government for many years but nothing has been done on the policy front to address this problem."

Rush to sell spectrum damaging SA TV

Karen Thorne says "The prime driver for the analogue switch-off is the auction of frequency spectrum to cellular operators, which has just taken place. Cape Town TV operates on the frequency 559.25 MHz, which is not a part of the digital dividend, so postponing switching it off will not disrupt the spectrum auction and the allocation of frequencies to bidders in that market."

"We have asked Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to postpone the analogue switch-off for this frequency so that the dual illumination period is extended for Cape Town TV. This will enable us to continue reaching Capetonians until such time as there is a reasonable business case for CTV to exist in a sustainable fashion on the DTT network."

CTV says it has joined the #SaveFreeTV movement launched by civil society organisations concerned that the government's scheduled analogue switch-off date of 31 March will deprive millions of South Africans from access to television due to the shortage of DTT receivers.

"CTV shares the concerns that e.tv and the #SaveFreeTV campaign are raising to postpone the analogue-switch-off in the major population areas until there is an adequate base of free-to-air viewers on DTT."

Karen Thorne says the South African government is "not paying attention to the fate of free-to-air television after the analogue switch-off in its rush to sell-off frequency spectrum to the cellular operators".

"We understand that the SABC saw a 30% drop-off in viewership in the Free State after its transmitters were switched off in that province. Even this level of viewership loss will hit community channels hard, but they are likely to lose even higher proportions as their lower-income audiences scramble to find viewing options."

"We want to see an orderly, well-managed and realistic process of migrating people to DTT," she says.

"This needs more time than is presently being allowed and the government must engage in a constructive fashion with all stakeholders to ensure that this happens successfully."

South Africa's government now ready to leave millions of poor analogue TV households behind in long-delayed digital migration switch that that gets yet another revised deadline of March 2022 for completion.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African government is now ready to leave millions of analogue TV viewers behind in its switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) with poor TV households who literally won't be able to watch television further as transmitters are switched off nationwide while they haven't changed to digital set-top boxes.

Meanwhile the country's department of communications once again amended and pushed out its deadline for provinces to fully switch from analogue to DTT that it agreed on and published in March, just 6 months ago.

It is estimated that there are close to 4 million South African TV households who are still on the analogue television platform. 

At the start of South Africa's long-delayed digital migration process, the South African government promised that analogue TV signals in the country won't be switched off before all viewers have not switched to DTT and have successfully migrated.

That is no longer the case, with the government that is now switching off analogue transmitters whether all analogue TV households in a specific provincial area have switched or not. 

The department of communications and digital technologies is still helping poor TV households with an oncome of less than R3500 per month to get a free DTT set-top box (STB) but will no longer wait for them to first have the box before switching off analogue transmission towers in provinces.

On Tuesday, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the country's latest minister of communications and digital technologies, in a government briefing said that Tebogo Leshope, Sentech chief operating officer (COO) has now been appointed as South Africa's broadcasting digital migration project manager.

Multiple such DTT managers have come and gone over the past decade as South Africa missed the international deadlines for DTT completion, as well as the government and the department's own national deadlines with constantly moving goalposts.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Tuesday revealed that the department had once again shifted out the deadlines for DTT completion and analogue switch-off in various provinces it announced in March this year.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that analogue transmitters in the Free State will be completely switched off by the end of October or by the first week of November by the latest, followed by complete switch-off of the 11 remaining analogue sites in the Northern Cape province by mid- or late-November.

The remaining 15 analogue sites in the North-West province will be switched off by mid- or late-November as well, while all the remaining analogue sites in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces will be switched off in the last week of December 2021 or the first week of January 2022 according to the latest adjusted list.

All remaining analogue sites in the Eastern Cape,Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces will be switched off by the end of January 2022.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, in the latest DTT completion promise, said that South Africa's digital TV migration process will be completed by the end of March 2022.

Poor TV households getting their television from analogue TV signals have until the end of October to still register at the struggling South African Post Office to receive a free STB. Households who register from November will only be getting a decoder between 3 to 6 months after the analogue switch-off date.

Only 1.18 million of the qualifying 3.75 million poor TV households in South Africa have registered for a STB. Out of this 1.18 million, the South African government only managed to "migrate" 556 954 to a set-top box. 

Meanwhile households who have received DTT decoders have complained that theirs have broken, no longer work, or that badly manufactured boxes are faulty or never worked properly. Meanwhile 840 000 STB are laying in Post Office warehouses collecting dust, still to be handed out and installed.

On Tuesday Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that 10.5 million TV households in South Africa have "self-migrated" from analogue to digital terrestrial television through private and commercial satellite pay-TV and free-to-air satellite TV.

Of this, 7.8 million TV households have been through MultiChoice's DStv, 2.3 million through eMedia Holdings' Openview, and 450 000 through China's StarTimes operating as StarSat in South Africa.

Sentech has already switched off 84 analogue sites across various provinces in South Africa. MultiChoice has switched off all of its analogue transmitters. The South African public broadcaster has switched off 105 of its 288 transmitters. Of the 95 analogue sites used by e.tv, only 4 have been switched off so far.

Not a single South African province has yet switched off all of its analogue signal transmitters.

Once again the department of communications trying to create a Digital Migration Call Centre that it should have done long ago and promised many times. 

On Tuesday Khumbudzo Ntshavheni promised yet again that a Digital Migration Call Centre has been created and that the details of it will be made available later in October 2021.

 Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that an app is being created so that poor people can register for a free set-top box and that it is under development. 

Since Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that poor TV households only have until the end of October to register, and with the app still in development, it's unclear how households are supposed to use an app that doesn't exist in October to register before the end of October for a decoder.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the department now wants to go to cabinet with a policy proposal for codes and standards for digital TV sets as have been done in other countries to prevent the possible dumping of imported analogue TV sets in South Africa. It's unclear why the South African government and the department haven't done this years ago.

ALSO READ: South Africa's TV ratings system and broadcasters risk damage in new monthly analogue TV hard switch-off approach as signal transmitters are shut down in provinces before all viewers have switched to DTT or received set-top boxes.

SABC warns: Will collapse if forced to pay billions in signal distribution costs to Sentech, says investing in old digital terrestrial broadcasting is 'throwing money into the wind', must abandon DTT to survive.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's bloated and financially struggling public broadcaster on Tuesday told the country's parliament that it can no longer afford the prohibitive billions of rand in radio and TV signal distribution costs that the SABC is paying the parastatal Sentech, and that the SABC needs to abandon and move away from outdated digital terrestrial television (DTT) as soon as possible if it is to survive.

The SABC told parliament that if the broadcaster is forced to keep exorbitant signal distribution costs to Sentech that the SABC will collapse. It also said DTT is outdated technology and that the SABC needs to dump it as soon as possible if the broadcaster is to survive. 

The SABC told parliament that DTT) is outdated for South Africa and that investing any further money into it would be "throwing money into the wind". 

South Africa's long-delayed, chaotic and corruption-filled digital migration process has been fraught with problems, little progress and hundreds of millions of rands wasted. 

The SABC told parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Tuesday morning that its signal distribution costs paid to Sentech are the South African public broadcaster's second-largest expense after its massive salaries and wage bill.

"Over the past 5 years we've spent over R3.2 billion on paying Sentech, and if you continue like this, the SABC will not be sustainable," Ian Plaatjes, the SABC chief operations officer (COO) told parliament.

"If we digitise 100% and look over the next 5 years, we will be spending R3.5 billion on signal distribution to Sentech," he said.

"If we were to use private, third-party signal distribution suppliers outside of Sentech, we would actually be making a 94% saving. That is a huge amount to our bottom-line. That is about R400 million that we could utilise for content."

'We do not have a strategy to use third-party providers outside of Sentech as of yet," he said "but the price has to be right. It can’t be 100 times the price our competitors are paying out there." 

Ian Plaatjes explained how it costs the SABC much more per capita to get its radio and TV signals to rural and remote areas through using Sentech and how it makes no sense since the SABC has to pay much more to reach a SABC listener or viewer than what they pay in a SABC TV Licence fee.

"In Makhanda, compared to Johannesburg - if you look at the cost we pay to Sentech, and this is just analogue signal distribution, it's R9 million. If you look at Johannesburg it's R10 million."

"If you look at the cost per user - because there's only 27 000, the cost per viewer is R335, whereas in Johannesburg because the viewers are 7.8 million, the cost per viewer comes down to R1.30."

"Digital terrestrial television (DTT) for Makhanda if the SABC were to roll it out there would be R150 per viewer, whereas if we were to use a satellite direct-to-home (DTH) solution, it would come down to R1.60 per viewer. It's a no-brainer about which technology we would then choose."

"If we look at Johannesburg, and other metropolitan areas, the analogue is R1.30 but if we were to use a DTT solution, it comes down to only 70c per viewer. Logic tells you that for metropolitan areas we would use a DTT solution. So by no means are we saying that we must throw DTT out."

"When DTT was planned 15 years ago, it was the best technology at that point in time. But to throw any money at it now, would be throwing money into the wind," Ian Plaatjes says.

"The whole world is moving off of DTT and has a strategy for moving off DTT. The SABC certainly must do the same if we are to survive." 

"If we were to use a third-party signal distributor service provide outside of Sentech, it would be R80c per viewer."

"Fifteen years after we started deploying DTT we have not utilised that time very well and we have not rolled out the supporting set-top boxes that goes with the technology."

"There isn't one township that you will find in the area at one dwelling more than one satellite TV dish. That means that the argument of using DTT in high-density areas is no longer valid. When it comes to DTH there is 100% coverage in South Africa."

"What needs to happen in regards to the cost we'repaying to Sentech which is close to R1 billion per year has to be halved for the sustainability of the SABC," Ian Plaatjes says.

ALSO READ: South Africa's SABC now wants DStv and Netflix viewers as well as mobile device users to pay a ‘traffic fine’ SABC TV Licence.

SABC's finance boss Yolande van Biljon warns: SABC's 'Day Zero can happen tomorrow', can't confirm that South African public broadcaster's staffers will be paid at end of June, says SABC owes over R1.8 billion to hundreds of companies.

The SABC's "Day Zero can happen tomorrow."

That is the dire and stark warning from the SABC's chief financial officer, Yolande van Biljon, who in an interview on Monday morning with SABC News said that the cash-strapped South African public broadcaster could see its operations seize up at any moment.

So precarious is its cash-flow situation and so beleaguered is the South African public broadcaster's financial situation that its finance boss on Monday couldn't guarantee that SABC staffers would be getting paid at the end of the month and didn't want to make any commitment and say that salaries will be paid.

The SABC that is drowning in debt owes more than R1.8 billion to hundreds of companies and service providers ranging from Sentech and SuperSport to production companies, royalties payable to Samro, and many more.

The South African public broadcaster is finally completely without money and on Sunday Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC chairperson in an interview with The Sunday Times warned that the SABC is on the verge of seizing up and that "communication blackout is imminent".

"I’m not sure how we are going to pay for salaries come end of June," Bongumusa Makhathini said according to a report in The Sunday Times.

The SABC has been waiting for months on another government bailout of R3.2 billion while its already precarious financial position kept worseing, pleading with Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the minister of communications, to do something.

Meanwhile political pressure saw the bloated broadcaster forced to abandon its plan of mass retrenchments that was scrapped before the general elections.

In February this year after his budget speech, Tito Mboweni, the minister of finance, revealed that the SABC now actually needs R6.8 billion as a bailout if it's to survive.

On Monday Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told SABC2's Morning Live in an interview that the broadcaster's juggling act to pay SABC staff salaries at the end of every month has "been the case for the last 8, 9 months. It has just been progressively worseing the last few months".

"We have had low-income months due to various reasons and that impacted heavily on our available cash resources and in the process the strain on the cash have just increased tremendously."

"In terms of debt there is over R1 billion that is owed. If you add accruals you come close to R1.8 billion altogether that is due and payable," she explained.

Asked about the R3.2 government bailout she said "we've had not had formal feedback yet. There is lot of support though".

"Again I ask you, will SABC employees be paid at the end of the month?" asked the Morning Live co-host Leanne Manas, who also revealed that some SABC employees, especially some freelancers, continue to not receive payment and that it has been happening as recently as the end of May.

"We're doing our best Leanne to provide for it in our forecasts and ensure that it is the first thing line-item that is executed in about two weeks from now. The moment a SuperSport or a Sentech or one of the other big partners is just unable to further say 'we're happy to carry you for another month' then the salaries will be at risk."

"As I sit here now it is in the forecast, we are planning to pay it as usual, but the times are extremely uncertain. It's really a day-to-day monitoring situation," Yolande van Biljon said.


'All suffering'
Yolande van Biljon explained that about 10 institutions are owed the majority of the R1 billion in SABC debt with the public broadcaster that also owes money to the South African Auditor-General (AG), as well as the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

"Then there's literally hundreds of smaller guys if I can put it like that. We do typically try to ensure that they have an allocation because we don't want to put further strain on the general, smaller service providers and suppliers. The pressure is with those big, 6 or 7 institutions that we owe a lot to."

"We need the funding support as soon as possible in my view. I worry. Apart from the salaries you know, there are service providers and suppliers in the bigger circles that work with the SABC which are all suffering as a result of what we have to deal with."


'Day Zero can happen tomorrow'
"I think Day Zero can happen tomorrow. It depends on if one of these big partners are unable to support us financially, or must be forced to switch off our signal and distribution network, or where the maintenance situation impacts one of our critical infrastructure facilities in one of the studios and there's a real black-on-air situation because the equipment couldn't do what it is supposed to do anymore," Yolande van Biljon said.

"The fact that we're managing it and that we keep presenting a front that everything is fine doesn't serve our purpose. But we've got phenomenal people, we've got fantastic support from our partners that ensure that we remain on-air as is required."

"But it takes one small thing at this point in time and the SABC's Day Zero will be that day," she said.

Explaining the impact of a SABC blackout she said that "28 milion people who listen to our radio stations will not have their news, entertainment and education. That's half of the population which will be immediately affected and they lose this news, entertainment and education in their mother tongue".

"I think it's quite a disaster. The television stations the same thing - a little bit less viewers but if you at SABC1, a significant number of viewers. Millions of people in South Africa will suddenly no longer have access to this kind of information, entertainment, education and news. And this is the SABC's mandate."

"Half of the population will be affected and then I'm not even talking about the 5 000 people who work with the SABC whether in a freelance basis or on a permanent basis - obviously those people and their families and the broader circles will be affected."

NEWS ALERT. 'Communication blackout is imminent'. SABC issues dire warning of broadcast failure as it's unable to pay staff at the end of the month, didn't pay electricity and owes hundreds of millions to service and content providers.

NEWS ALERT - The South African public broadcaster that is finally completely without money on Sunday warned that it's on the verge of a total shutdown and that a "communication blackout is imminent" with the SABC that doesn't have money left to pay staffers at the end of June, is no longer able to pay for electricity and owes hundreds of millions to service and content providers ranging from Sentech to SuperSport.

While Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, South Africa's minister of communications, has been jetsetting to Japan last week and after having had months to help the SABC out of its precarious situation, she had failed to solve the massive financial crisis of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC chairperson, on Sunday warned that the SABC is finally on the verge of collapse with a blackout that could happen any moment.

"I’m not sure how we are going to pay for salaries come end of June," Bongumusa Makhathini says according to a report in The Sunday Times.

"We have also not maintained any of our infrastructure and a communication blackout is imminent".

The SABC that is perilously close to no longer broadcasting hasn't paid for municipal services like electricity at the end of May, choosing to rather pay SABC staff salaries.

The SABC now owes the City of Johannesburg more than R13.5 million. The SABC is meeting with the Coty of Johannesburg again on Wednesday.

The SABC owes the parastatal signal distributor Sentech R317 million and MultiChoice's sports content division SuperSport over R208 million.

Beyond that the SABC also owes millions to other content providers like independent South African production companies.

Nothing has so far come of the SABC's plea for a massive R6.8 billion in another government bailout.

"We never had a blackout before, but if the funding doesn't come soon the possibility of a blackout is imminent," Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO said a month ago.

The SABC could either experience a blackout when it's electricity supply is cut off, content is simply no longer being received, or if SABC staffers down tools, go on strike or simply become no-shows when the SABC fails to pay them at the end of the month.

The SABC planned and started a process of mass retrenchment but buckled under political pressure before the general elections and was forced to abandon the process of firing up to 981 permanent staffers and 1 200 freelancers at the bloated public broadcaster.

'BLACK-ON-AIR' DANGER: SABC boss Madoda Mxakwe tells parliament the crumbling South African public broadcaster will be bankrupt by 31 March 2019 as audience share continues to fall: 'Our cashflow is depleted'.

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, on Tuesday told parliament that the financially gutted and struggling South African Broadcasting Corporation will be factually insolvent by 31 March 2019 as audience share continues to fall, saying: 'Our cashflow is depleted'.

The South African public broadcaster is on the edge of financial collapse and has already been described by South Africa's Auditor-General (AG) as "commercially insolvent".

The SABC told parliament it's heading for another R568 million loss for the financial year - R281 million more than anticipated - that it can no longer guarantee that it will be able to pay SABC staff salaries at the end of March, and that a "black-on-air" scenario will happen soon without a government bailout.

Last month the minister of finance, Tito Mboweni, revealed after his budget speech in parliament that the SABC needs a whopping R6.8 billion in cash as a government bailout to survive.

On Tuesday Madoda Mxakwe told parliament's portfolio committee on communications that by the end of this month the SABC will no longer be able to pay anybody as its liabilities will exceed its total assets when the broadcaster enters technical insolvency.

A plan to retrench thousands of SABC workers from the overstaffed and bloated public broadcaster where wages form the biggest expense by far was scuppered since 8 May 2019 is election day in South African and political parties don't want to see workers being fired in an election year.

"The severe liquidity challenges we are facing threaten our status as a going concern. Our cashflow is depleted. We cannot honour payments to service providers. We cannot adhere to all our committed contracts," said Madoda Mxakwe.

"We cannot even commission local content production as a result of all of the severe liquidity challenges that we're facing".

"The situation is so bad that several major content providers of key programmes they actually refuse to engage with us. Understandably, because we have not been able to pay them in the past couple of months," said Madoda Mxakwe.

"We can't acquire sports rights. Owing to our liquidity challenges we are not able to do it."

"In terms of the significant suppliers that are due and overdue, you are looking at Sentech, we're looking at SuperSport, Samro, as well as other providers of content that we have not been able to pay."

"The SABC cannot guarantee that it will be able to pay its employees' salaries at the end of March 2019. Should this crisis not be addressed as a matter of urgency, the SABC would be unable to operate and the 'black-on-air' scenario is a real and highly possible threat," said Madoda Mxakwe.

The SABC told parliament that since October 2018 the broadcaster's audience share has been declining, with its revenue that is expected to continue to decline in the 4th quarter of its financial year.

Madoda Mxakwe told parliament that the SABC "is managing a lot of disciplinary cases emanating from the forensic reports that we continue to get. On any given day I get anything from 2 to 3 of these and they depict the kind of malfeasance we still see in the organisation".

Yolande van Biljon, the SABC's chief financial officer (CFO) told parliament that since January 2019 the SABC's actual revenue for the financial year was down 12% below the target at R5.4 billion.

"Our audience share is declining as a result of a combination of factors and we anticipate it to continue."

"Of our television stations, SABC1 remains the top-performing station but we're also too heavily reliant on it. It is outperforming the prior year revenue but it is the targets for this year which are not being met for all three TV channels," said Yolande van Biljon.

"We have incidents almost once a month where either there's a fire or a roof caves in as a result of the severe storms we've been having in Johannesburg. All of it are symptoms of our inability to maintain our infrastructure."

The SABC has repeatedly asked the minister of communications, with Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams currently the 11th minister of communications in 11 years, for a multi-billion rand bailout, similar to the government-guaranteed loan the public broadcaster received in 2011 during its previous financial implosion.

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on Tuesday said that the National Treasury had agreed to grant the SABC interim relief in terms of money. The amount of money wasn't disclosed.

SABC DAY ZERO: Literally crumbling and cracking, SABC now facing Day Zero collapse by March 2019 as it's unable to pay salaries; workers complaining about where the biscuits went.

Fast running out of its last available cash, the SABC is now facing its own "Day Zero": By February 2019 the broadcaster will no longer be able to pay full staff salaries and by March 2019 the SABC will completely collapse and not be able to pay any salaries while workers - facing mass retrenchment amidst drastic cost-cutting measures - are complaining about where the biscuits went that they've always enjoyed.

The SABC board and executives of the commercially insolvent South African public broadcaster appeared before parliament's portfolio committee on Tuesday, telling shocking tales of a dire SABC on the edge of a financial precipice that is literally crumbling away.

SABC restrooms have run out of hand towels that are no longer available, staffers have to appease angry suppliers over the phone and explain why they're not getting paid which wasn't part of their original job description, and a massive chunk of debris recently came falling down at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters where the building has cracks where the SABC can no longer afford to do basic maintenance.

Chris Maroleng, SABC chief operating officer (COO), told parliament that at the SABC - that the Auditor-General (AG) in September declared a non-going concern - workers are complaining about where their biscuits went, "something they were used to".

Meanwhile the SABC is looking at getting rid of up to a third of its full-time workforce - 891 of its 3 376 workers and half of its freelancers - 1 200 of 2 400 by February 2019 - telling parliament that at the bloated broadcaster up to 4 people are being paid to do the same job.

The SABC told parliament that it urgently needs R3 billion as a government bailout just to continue to pay staff salaries.

"The reality is that without the money being injected into SABC, we are in a dire situation and this SABC will collapse. Come March 2019, it will collapse," Bongumusa Makhathini told parliament.


'March 2019 is our Day Zero.'
In trying to cut back the SABC that has been struggling to pay producers for content, has agreed to paid them less, shifting a massive burden to South Africa's TV production industry now bearing the brunt of the SABC's financial woes.

Mathatha Tsedu, SABC board member told parliament "We have negotiated terms with content suppliers; people who provide the SABC with content like Muvhango, Generations, Uzalo and who produce the content at own expense. They give it to us, we can't even pay them."

"We have negotiated terms, we owe them R20 million a month, but we pay them R5 million. So every month, the accumulation of the debts just keeps increasing. But these producers are using their own money to finance the SABC's operation."

We've negotiated terms with Sentech. Sentech takes us into broadcasting. We provide 60% of Sentech's income. We can't pay them. And when we can't pay them it puts the entire broadcasting industry in jeopardy."

"The same applies to Samro whose music we play on our radio stations, and SuperSport who gives us the PSL games. All those people are not being paid the monies owed to them. We're renegotiating sport rights - all the fiasco around Bafana and SAFA revolves around the fact that we can't pay what SAFA wants us to pay."

"Some days you go into the SABC toilets and there are no hand towels because the cost-cutting have gone that deep."

"We haven't maintained our buildings for a very long time. Last week a huge chunk fell from the reception of the Radio Park building. The people responsible for the maintenance of our buildings have been warning that there are cracks there - something is going to happen. But we don't have the money. We're only dealing with what is broadcast critical," Mathatha Tsedu said.

"If there is a crack up there and it doesn't stop us from going on air, we will not fix it until that rock falls down. And one day, it is going to fall on someone."

Mathatha Tsedu said "now these invoices that we are not honouring are from companies that employ people but from our side we prioritise payment of our staff".

"Our staff every day have to deal with calls from these people who supply us with services, whose companies are going under because we can't pay."

"At every turn I have to say to say to them [SABC staff] 'I apologise', because when we hired them as accountants,it was not one of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that they were going to have with explaining to people why we can't pay. They were supposed to process payments but now we're putting them in a very bad situation."

"At the end of January 2019 we will get to a point where we will be able to pay salaries and a few other things. February 2019 we might not even be able to pay full salaries. March 2019 is our Day Zero."

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO said "we've significantly cut programming and film cost which is our core business. It has not helped us, particularly in terms of attracting audiences".

Chris Maroleng said "investment in programming and film has been reduced by between 30% and 50% which is quite significant".

About cost-cutting at the SABC he said "It's as basic now as reducing the amount of milk, the amount of bottled water, the amount of basic commodities within the business."

"Some of our staff even complain that they don't get biscuits which was one of the things that they used to have," said Chris Maroleng.

South Africa's Broadcasting Digital Migration Advisory Council named as the department of communications plans to cut off all analogue TV signals to the Free State by December 2018 leaving millions of viewers without TV reception.

South Africa's department of communications overseeing the country's hugely delayed digital migration process from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting has announced the names of the members of the Broadcasting Digital Migration Advisory Council.

The Broadcasting Digital Migration Advisory Council will advise South Africa's minister of communications about the DTT process.

South Africa is far behind and have missed all DTT deadlines and is set to also miss the next self-imposed deadline of June 2019 to switch of analogue TV signals since millions of South African TV households still need to buy or get set-top boxes (STBs) for digital broadcasting.

Meanwhile the department of communications wants to cut off the Free State province's analogue signals by December 2018. This will leave millions of viewers in TV households without a STB cut off from TV signals like the SABC, e.tv and other broadcasters with people who don't have the free government subsidised STB, haven't bought one or who can't afford to buy one and who are not "poor enough" to qualify for one of the free ones.

The department of communications said it "appeals to the people of the Free State to start applying for the subsidy or purchase the digital-enabled equipment so that they are ready and enjoy uninterrupted transmission by the December date".

Sentech's Aldred Dreyer has been appointed as the project director of South Africa's digital terrestrial television programme, overseeing a new so-called project management office dedicated to the government's stalled DTT switch-over project.

Meanwhile the job of the Broadcasting Digital Migration Advisory Council will be to advise the minister of communications, Nomvula Mokonyane, on "matters pertaining to DTT".

"Key among the council’s immediate task is to, in collaboration with the PMO advise the minister on the analogue-switch-over plan, including the countdown to the Free State Province switch-off by December 2018 as announced last month and measures to accelerate the uptake of DTT by the citizens," said Nomvula Mokonyane in a statement on Tuesday.

Nomvula Mokonyane said "the members of the Advisory Council shall be in office until analogue switch-over has been completed in the country".

As the 10th minister of communications in South Africa in 10 years, Nomvula Mokonyane is "currently reviewing the DTT delivery model so as to expedite analogue switch-off".

The Advisory Council is chaired by Nomonde Gongxeka-Seopa, councilor of Icasa. 

The members of the advisory council are:                 

• Nomonde Gongxeka-Seopa (Councillor – Icasa and chairperson of the Advisory Council)
• Aldred Dreyer  (PMO project director)
• Nomsa Philiso (SABC executive)
• Norman Munzhelele (executive of regulatory division – eMedia Investments)
• Percy Mathabela  (DTI)
• Linden Petzer (chief director for radio and satellite applications - DTPS)
• Themba Kinana (Vodacom executive)
• Moses Mashisane (MTN executive)
• Tebogo  Leshope (Sentech COO)
• Thabo Makenete (MultiChoice executive)
• Michael Markovitz (SABC board member)
• Sipho Mngqibisa (Usaasa)