eNCA is free to use the word 'blackout' instead of Eskom's euphemistic 'load-shedding' on-screen to inform DStv subscribers about South Africa's electricity woes.

by Thinus Ferreira

eMedia's South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) is fully allowed to use the word "blackout" on-screen instead of Eskom's euphemistic moniker "load-shedding" in order to keep DStv subscribers informed of the nature, severity and stages of Eskom's blackouts and the country's electricity capacity woes.

Following a complaint about eNCA's use of the word "blackout" as a notification in the top right-hand corner of the screen instead of "load-shedding", the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) dismissed the complaint.

While the complaint to the BCCSA was about eNCA, the South African public broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) channel has also switched a few months ago from using the word "load-shedding" to "blackout" after the severity of Eskom's unending electricity curtailment process dramatically increased in severity.

A DStv subscriber Nhlanhla Gumede complained in May that eNCA's use of "blackout" on screen gives the "wrong impression" about South Africa's crippling electricity problems caused by Eskom, and makes it look as if "things are worse than they are when it comes to electricity supply in South Africa".

Nhlanhla Gumede told the BCCSA in the complaint that "these journalists and their bosses are simply arrogant and have become law unto themselves. It is my understanding that you mandate among other things, is to reign them in. You could check their respective channels' screen and you will see that and then ask them if they know it is there."

The complainant said that eNCA "sensationalise an issue" by using the word "blackout" to refer to the lack of electricity, instead of Eskom's word of "load-shedding".

The BBCSA noted that the complaint falls outside its jurisdiction and that "any intervention by the BCCSA in this regard will constitute an interference with the broadcaster's editorial discretion".

"If for whatever reason the broadcaster sees it fit to utilise the words 'blackouts' instead of  'load shedding' it is definitely its prerogative to put up the latter, for as long as there is no contravention of the provisions of the Code the BCCSA cannot intervene."

"All factors considered there is no contravention of any of the provisions of the Code of Conduct, thus the complaint is accordingly dismissed."

MultiChoice: Eskom's Stage 6 electricity blackouts wipe out a third of SA's total TV viewership.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice sees a direct impact between the levels of electricity blackouts in the country and DStv subscribers, with the pay-TV operator that revealed South Africa's total TV audience gets slashed by over a third when Eskom is in a Stage 6 load-shedding phase.

Tim Jacobs, MultiChoice's chief financial officer, during the Q&A session of the pay-TV company's first MultiChoice Capital Markets Day held on Wednesday as a virtual event, said that the company can directly see how DStv subscribers and TV viewers in general in South Africa are bearing the brunt of Eskom's inability to keep the power on.

South Africa continues to be plagued by Eskom's ongoing electricity blackouts - locally referred to as "load-shedding" - oscillating between Stage 4 and Stage 6 and wiping millions of television households from the country's TV ratings system daily who watch the SABC, e.tv, or various StarSat or DStv pay-TV channels. 

"We see a direct correlation between the level of load-shedding and the impact on our customers," Tim Jacobs said.

"Once you get into Stage 6 load-shedding - where we've been for quite a bit of the second half of this last financial year - we see two direct correlations that we look at."

"The first one is we look at industry data which is independent of us, so when we have a look at the industry as a whole, at Stage 6 viewership dropped by 34%, whereas on the DStv platform we only dropped 12%."

"The second statistic that we use is the difference between what's happening to our 90-days subscriber base and our active subscriber base at any point in time. We are seeing a disconnect between these two where active subscribers have gone negative but we still see growth in 90-days subscriber base."

"What that tells us is that in our view - although people are under economic pressure and they are choosing tactically when to come and renew their subscriptions, they still want to be on the DStv platform. The 90-days - over a period of three months - that number is a lot higher than the active day subscribers.

"That means that our product is still resonating with customers. We're still comfortable that despite load-shedding customers will come back and we've had experience of this in Africa. In a number of markets in particular, if you look at Zambia and Zimbabwe, Ghana's had electricity problems, and all of these markets tend to bounce back quite strongly once those issues are resolved."

South Africa's October 2021 TV ratings damaged as Eskom announces that rolling electricity blackouts will continue for at least a week.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's TV ratings will once again be damaged and adversely impacted during October with the country's struggling and broken electricity supplier Eskom that announced ongoing rolling blackouts that will continue until at least Thursday.

On Thursday Eskom announced that it would once again take electricity away from millions of South Africans and implemented what it calls "Stage 2 load shedding" from 21:00 at night.

On Friday afternoon Eskom said the blackouts that it initially announced for two days - Thursday and Friday - would now continue as rolling and continuous blackouts until at least Thursday next week.

Eskom's blackouts have a massive negative impact on South Africa's TV industry and affects all broadcasters: the SABC, e.tv, MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes' StarSat, community TV channels.

Their viewership and ratings losses translate to not just financial loss and a decrease in advertising revenue for them, but also negatively impacts South Africa's advertising industry.

These blackouts - coming during late prime time and continuing during the night - wipe millions of South African TV households across the country from the TAMS TV ratings system who ends up with a zero ratings.

Eskom's initially 2-day blackout announcement - increased to a week - means that at least a full quarter of the month of October's TV ratings will be lower than what it would have been and will be negatively impacted.

The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) runs an online "load shedding dashboard" that shows how TV viewership and ratings plunge when Eskom has electricity blackouts.