eNCA in May revamp with yet another new logo and schedule changes, Shahan Ramkissoon makes anchor return as channel dumps own show to simulcast e.tv's The Morning Show, will stay live until midnight.

by Thinus Ferreira 

On Monday eMedia's South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) is poised for yet another rebrand less than 5 years after the last one - with more schedule changes and anchor shifts which will see the channel dump its own morning show output to simulcast's e.tv's The Morning Show, the return of anchor Shahan Ramkissoon and the channel now staying in live programming until midnight.

The Hyde Park-based eNCA had a channel rebrand in July 2018 that was accompanied by a dramatic overhaul to its schedule, programming and anchor line-up. It was followed by another eNCA schedule shake-up in July 2019.

Now eNCA, under John Bailey as managing editor - and feeling the increased heat and competition from rival local TV news channels like Thabile Ngwato and Thokozani Nkosi's Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) and the public broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) - is once again revamping its look, programming structure and content output.

The eNCA logo is changing again from 1 May 2023, sticking with blue and red, but delineating the blue "e" from the red and flipping the blue and white between letter and background colour.

eNCA will no longer produce its own morning show, The South African Morning, with its anchors Tumelo Mothotoane and Gareth Edwards shifted to anchor NewsLink from 09:00 to 12:00. NewsLink which used to end at 11:00 and is now being extended to a 3-hour block.

In the space of The South African Morning, eNCA will now show DStv subscribers a simulcast of e.tv's The Morning Show, meaning that pay-TV viewers and free-to-air viewers will now see the same show on two TV channels.

What eNCA saves in production costs by dropping the in-house production of The South African Morning it used to do from its own studios, it will now use to stay in live broadcast programming until later.

From May eNCA will now broadcast live until midnight, nightly, whereas it used to switch to repeats and rebroadcasts at 22:00.

According to the new eNCA schedule, the All Angels daytime block which ran from 11:00 until 14:00 will now run from 12:00 until 15:00. Today which ran from 14:00 until 17:00 will now start at 15:00 until 18:00. South Africa Tonight which started at 17:00 on eNCA will now start at 18:00.

NewsNight on eNCA which used to start at 20:00 and ended at 22:00, how shifts to start at 21:00 for three hours until midnight.

Shahan Ramkissoon who left eNCA a year ago in May 2022 to work in South Africa's corporate public relations industry is returning to anchor the new eNCA show The Last Word on Thursday and Friday nights at 20:00.

"From 1 May, viewers will see an updated logo and fresh look for the channel," eNCA confirms in a press release. "As part of the refresh, viewers can expect some updates in the daily broadcast schedule," the news channel says.

"Viewers will still see the familiar faces they've grown to rely on, and also some new ones who will join the channel," says eNCA, adding that "The weekend schedule is also being refreshed. Going forward, We the Nation will be shown on Sundays at 20:00. eNCA will also extend its broadcast hours until midnight, every night."

ALSO READ: Faith Mangope joins e.tv's revamped The Morning Show added to eNCA as simulcast programming.

ALSO READ: Latest rebrand 'a new era for eNCA,' says managing director as TV news channel want viewers to question more and 'create hope with our new positioning'.

SABC3 changes late afternoon schedule with new timeslots for Judge Faith, Afternoon Express and Harry from August; Special Assignment leaves Sundays for Tuesdays.

SABC3 is changing the channel's late afternoon schedule from August with new timeslots for Judge Faith, Afternoon Express and talk show Harry, while Special Assignment that used to be on Sundays is moving to Tuesdays.

According to SABC3, the channel that continues to struggle in the ratings race, "will be implementing timeslot changes for some of your favourite shows from Monday 5 August".

Judge Faith is moved from 14:00 to 16:30, Afternoon Express moves from 16:30 to 17:00 and the American talk show Harry moves from 17:30 to 18:00 on SABC3 on weekdays.

The SABC News (DStv 404) show, Unfiltered, simulcast on SABC3, moves from Sundays at 20:30 to Mondays at 20:30.

The weekly investigate magazine show Special Assignment that was on Sundays before it was moved to other days and eventually back to Sundays at 21:30, is once again moving to Tuesdays and an hour earlier at 20:30.

INTERVIEW. SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed on the channel's new schedule, The Amazing Race, Real Talk with Anele, Top Billing and Bollywood - and what's happening with the news and Supernatural.

At the beginning of February SABC3 once again changed its schedule, with SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed saying the channel's ongoing prime time evolution "is not the beginning nor is it the end. It's definitely the start of much more. It is our journey".

TVwithThinus sat down with Aisha Mohamed, to hear why the new schedule change happened and what it means, why Top Billing moved to Saturdays and why the news and Real Talk with Anele moved to later timeslots.

Aisha explains how SABC3 is trying to catch up with The Amazing Race, those Supernatural episodes that got cut and new seasons coming, what viewers' response are to the Bollywood content and how SABC3's schedule is responding to viewer feedback.




Why did SABC3 decide to change its schedule again from the start of February?
The changes have been coming for a while and we thought it would be really great to start a new year.

The changes are definitely part of our thinking and our strategy and we've spent a lot of time so that the changes we put forward from February are sustainable but also come with longevity. We decided to launch it in February and it can sustain itself to as soon as May when we get new titles in again, and then in the next 3 months again, we get new titles in again. So it made sense for me to start a new year with a new, fresh feeling.

We also had a lot of feedback and time to get feedback from viewers. So we've spent time reading that feedback, researching that feedback, having a look at what people actually want - you know, what are they saying to us.

What is nice about our audience is that they're very vocal. So they will tell you exactly what are the things that they like and that they don't like. And that actually assisted us in this process, with simple things like Real Talk with Anele that we've moved a little bit later. They're very much a part of those decisions, telling us things like "I'm not home when this is on" and SABC3's schedule is very much about those decisions - so we considered all of those things.

The thing is that you're never going to make everybody happy all the time. It's a competitive schedule for us as a channel, so we can compete aggressively but also make our viewers happy in the same vein.

Can you talk a bit about Top Billing and its 25th anniversary and what a show and a brand like that and its longevity means for South Africa and for the SABC and SABC3 and why did you decide to move it to Saturdays at 18:00?
That Top Billing has been on the air for so many years is a testament to the kind of product that it is and the fact that it has such high value. It is regarded in the viewers' mind as something that's really unique.

Top Billing is a very unique property. It encapsulates a little bit of everything. But also we found that in the viewing experience we're moving into a very different age. So as Top Billing is changing and evolving - and you would have seen if you've watched it for the last couple of months - it's definitely moving to a different direction.

It's moving to the direction that SABC3 is moving, but it's also moving in a digital age, it's savvy about how it's responding to it's viewers from a social media perspective, but it's also about ensuring that we give it a home that it can really shine.

And we felt that Thursdays are definitely our home for reality and for drama and that kind of thing. We found from a viewer perspective those people appreciated watching it over the weekend, so it's about giving Top Billing the opportunity tor really shine on a Saturday, and with a repeat on a Sunday. So we're really hoping to see good things in the new timeslot.

The move of the SABC's English TV news bulletin from 18:00 to 21:00, is that to make a less interrupted flow?
That's exactly what it is. So it was about flow and balance, and also allowing our viewers the opportunity to have news and lifestyle strands where they are.

We've got a 2 minute bulletin at 6 o'clock that's you'll still get that's very much the headlines. And then a very detailed bulletin at 9. So it's 2 minutes at 6 and then a very detailed bulletin at 9 encapsulating what's been going on the day.

Also our viewers are very savvy. They're aspirational. They are aware. They are aware of what's happening around them. Often a lot of the news stories, they've seen what's going on around them, they know what's happening. So it's about bringing it all together for a more detailed conversation at 21:00, which I don't think we could have done at 6 o'clock.

And then the rationale for moving the talk shows Afternoon Express and Real Talk with Anele to early prime time, is it to leverage the more viewers that potentially available later?
So definitely, definitely in terms of Real Talk with Anele that has been the feedback from viewers who told us "I have to catch it on YouTube", "I can't believe I missed it again today", "I can't believe I missed so and so" - it's all of that feedback.


So the later timeslot is a testament to the show's success?
Yes. Absolutely. Also, it's a SABC3 production. So we're invested it in. And we want to give it the best possible opportunity to shine. So 6 o'clock makes a lot of sense.

And I hoping that people are comfortably at home then and can enjoy the viewing experience as opposed to being still at work, which is the feedback we got.

Also Afternoon Express has sustained itself over time. It came on as a new show, we weren't sure how it was going to do, and it really has improved our schedule tremendously.

A lot of viewers have been scared about the possibility of Survivor and The Amazing Race disappearing from SABC3's schedule?
We've kept Mondays as adventure, so our reality and adventure on Mondays sustain itself. So Survivor is definitely still on a Monday.

We chose to put The Amazing Race on a Wednesday because we want to bring our seasons forward. So we're looking at what's happening with how many seasons there are and where we are at, and to bring things forward so that we can give viewers the next season sooner rather than later.

So we've got season 25 of The Amazing Race on Wednesdays and then we've got Survivor coming in shortly. And we've got further seasons actually. So there'll be a one and then a break and then another one. But again, just to make sure that we maintain interest and make it relevant, because we find that the gaps otherwise are a bit too far apart.


Will SABC3 ever show the last four episodes of Supernatural's stopped season?
We are still playing the last 4 episodes out. In the schedule change one of the shows that were affected was Supernatural on a Sunday night.

Unfortunately it is a little bit later, so it's not in the same timeslot that it was at, but we are most definitely showing it a bit later, so we are finishing the season. And it's nice that we also have the next seasons of Supernatural coming.

Do you know which ones?
I think its 11 and 12. So they're coming in and will come in on a drama slot on a Wednesday.


What has been the feedback in terms of the Bollywood content and will there be more of that?
So we're very excited about that. The viewer feedback has been well around Bollywood, also the pairing of Mela and Bollywood together was also very much in favour. The movies feedback was really great. So we got a lot of feedback around the types of movies.

We've also got really good titles, and we've got a good combination of for instance Hindi, Tamil and how we can pair them together and can ensure that both communities can enjoy that equally. So it is a bit of a touchy area sometimes. So we are very careful how we schedule them; so that we ensure we have enough titles, pair them nicely.

Also we try to get latest movies, we've just acquired a lot of new ones with some new titles coming on as well. I think we acquired 20 or 25 new ones.

NO APRIL FOOL'S JOKE. SABC3 in yet another massive schedule shake-up as the channel's line-up is rejigged for the 3rd time in a year from April.

 In a desperate attempt to lift ratings, stem its ongoing viewership slide and slow its cash drains the SABC will announce yet another very dramatic schedule shake-up for its loss-making SABC3 channel that will come into effect from 1 April.

It’s no SABC April Fool's joke: SABC3's latest upcoming schedule shake-up will be the SABC's third for the struggling and loss-making channel in just a year.

SABC3's shake-up follows sister channel SABC2's latest big schedule change that was introduced in February and that angered a large number of viewers – SABC2's sixth big schedule shake-up since mid-2014.

Just as with currency fluctuations in an economy, public and commercial transport commuter timetables, and even a family's nightly dinner time, stability and predictability over time of a broadcaster's TV schedule – or the lack of it – is a strong indicator and signal to the organisational and systemic health or chaos behind the scenes.

Constant and erratic TV schedule changes – the SABC for instance again disrupted all three of its TV channel's schedules in January for Afcon 2017 coverage – confuse viewers who are creatures of habit and who struggle to find their shows and what they want to watch.

With every major TV schedule change of the SABC, some viewers sample competitor channels and programming, find new favourites, form new habits and never return.

SABC3 saw its ratings tank the past nine months following the SABC’s controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt decree of 80% local content that was haphazardly introduced on the channel since July 2016. The badly implemented move saw viewers flee, viewership fall and then advertisers leaving.

The SABC introduced big schedule changes for SABC3 in April 2016, followed by yet another dramatic schedule shake-up just three months later in July 2016 – with a new SABC3 logo and-on air look.

That was also when Motsoeneng – now still currently employed by the SABC but ordered to stay at home with no job title – wreaked havoc on the cash-strapped SABC3 by abruptly ordering a decree of 80% local content for the SABC's only commercial TV channel.

Not a single one of the new and mostly badly produced local shows introduced on SABC3 since July 2016, except for a new season of Neill Anthony Private Chef, managed to lure enough viewers to crack SABC3's most watched month-on-month ratings list.

With disastrous AR's (audience ratings) in prime time for the batch of new content, the SABC still had to splash the cash to produce the ratings-failed content that viewers flipped the switch on.

The new SABC3 schedule shake-up is the first under SABC TV boss, Nomsa Philiso. 

She was appointed as the SABC's new head of television in August 2016 to replace the veteran Verona Duwarkah who was abruptly fired for refusing Hlaudi Motsoeneng's allegedly irregular content orders and dubious production contracts and reportedly accused him of of harassment and gross mismanagement.

There's growing buzz that the SABC could perhaps be shuttering the beleaguered SABC3 before the end of the year, while insiders are wondering how the SABC wants to programme and run its promised five additional new TV channels for digital terrestrial television (DTT) if it is struggling to keep the three existing channels on the air and just three schedule line-ups filled that's already stuffed with repeats.

Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC TV publicist, was asked about talk that SABC3 might be shutting down, what the situation is around SABC3's future, and what assurance there is from the SABC to viewers about the channel, but she didn't respond. 

Major programming moves

Now the SABC is again tinkering with SABC3's schedule in another big shake-up.

According to insiders, SABC3 will announce that it is switching a large number of its shows' timeslots with viewers who will once again have to adjust their viewing patterns.

SABC3 will introduce yet another new swathe of local content – some with dubious public broadcasting value – as it also gets ready to dump late night and overnight repeats to cut back on rebroadcast fees, cancels long-running programming like Interface and even moves its news bulletin, The Bold and the Beautiful, Top Billing, Special Assignment and other shows yet again to new times and days.

Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is doing yet another big schedule change again and what prompted the latest shake-up. She failed to comment.

SABC3's latest schedule do-over stretches from the very early morning to late night.

SABC3 will cut its breakfast show Expresso back by half an hour, with the morning show that will move from 06:00 to a new starting time of 6:30 in mid-April. SABC3 is also slowly moving the beloved American soap Days of Our Lives back from its midnight banishment to an earlier timeslot.

Here’s what’s happening on SABC3 from April

Major coming SABC3 changes from April include:

 ■ Expresso is being reduced again, back to two and a half hours, after its timeslot was increased in July 2016 to three hours. From Monday 17 April Expresso is set to start half an hour later at 6:30 to make space for a half hour of kids programming at 6:00 on weekdays.

■ The existing line-up of SABC3's 09:00 hour of repeats is dumped for repeats on weekdays of Real Talk with Anele from Monday 3 April.

■ After taking away the Venda-language soap Muvhango repeat on SABC3 in July 2016, it is suddenly back – at 11:30 on weekdays.

■ The weekday chatter, Afternoon Express that was moved from 16:00 to 17:00 in July 2016 as part of a failed experiment, will move back to 16:00 from Monday 3 April.

■ Real Talk with Anele gets upgraded and moves from 16:00 to 17:00. Basically Afternoon Express and Real Talk with Anele are switching timeslots, with SABC3 now believing that Real Talk – that constantly attracts more buzz – has more potential to lure a bigger actual audience.

■ The SABC is once again moving the public broadcaster's flagship daily TV news bulletin on SABC3 that's been hammered in the ratings and that shed tens of thousands of viewers over the past few months.

The news at 18:30 on SABC3 is once again becoming News @ 6 from April – a simulcast of the news done on DStv's SABC News (DStv 404) channel with anchors Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd.

■ That knock-on effect means that the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful is also once again shifting timeslots – from 18:00 to 18:30 on weekdays on SABC3 from Monday 3 April.

■ The hugely popular The Bold and the Beautiful, perennially the most watched show on SABC3, will now serve as the lead-in for the struggling local soap Isidingo that stays put at 19:00. SABC3 hopes that Bold’s buoyant viewership will filter through to the Endemol Shine Africa produced Isidingo.

■ The local talker Trending South Africa that started in daytime on SABC3, switched to night time and then got a 12:00 weekday repeat, is getting cut down from five days to four episodes per week, losing the Friday episode.

Trending SA will also no longer get any daytime repeat on SABC3 from April but will see its broadcast timeslot move half an hour earlier from 22:00 to 21:30.

■ From Thursday 6 April Top Billing sees yet another timeslot change in the glam magazine show long broadcast history – moving from 20:00 to 20:30.

■ SABC3's investigative magazine show Special Assignment is once again moving in April – this time from Wednesdays at 21:30 to Mondays at 21:00.

■ SABC3's long running Sunday night current affairs interview show Interface at 21:30 is apparently abruptly getting axed. Interface's last episode will be on Sunday 2 April, thereafter replaced by a celebrity-driven type profile show entitled Celebuville in the same timeslot from Sunday 8 April.

  

Flurry of unknown new local content

Instead of phasing individual new shows in over time to help them gain viewer recognition and support, SABC3 is unleasing a next new wave of unknown local content from April as part of the latest schedule shake-up.

This programming will all compete at the same time for viewers' attention, battling each other to stand out in a crowded nightly 19:30 to 21:30 timeslot.

The previously announced channel switch from SABC1 to SABC3 of Clover's latest season of the advertiser-funded production (AFP), Tropika Island of Treasure Seychelles will start on SABC3 on Monday 27 March at 19:30.

While TVwithThinus saw it already and this show's production values look much improved, the same can't be said for new and unknown SABC3 shows like the female presented car maintenance and driving test show Driving in Heels starting Tuesday 4 April at 21:00, Hostess with Lorna Maseko starting Tuesday 4 April at 20:30, and the food competition reality show Dinner Date set to start on Wednesday 5 April at 19:30.

After several pushbacks the delayed Uyanda It’s On that was originally scheduled for 2016 is finally set to start on SABC3 on Wednesday 5 April at 21:00. 

The reality show follows the former SABC1 publicist and socialite Uyanda Mbuli and her various worldwide luxury indulgences captured on video for public broadcasting consuption.

Friday 7 April will finally see the start of the new SABC3 half hour sitcom Soap on a Rope at 19:30 that was also originally supposed to start in August 2016 on the channel. The comedy stars Luthuli Dlamini, Melanie du Bois, Alfred Ntombela and Sonia Sedibe and is set on a fictitious TV show's set.

Publicist Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is introducing another batch of new local programming in a burst and what the programming strategy is behind the move but she failed to respond.

Late night changes

Days of Our Lives on SABC3 is moving from midnight to an earlier timeslot of 22:30 from 3 April.

The late night Isidingo and The Bold and the Beautiful repeats are both dumped in favour of the German TV news service Deutsche Welle that will now start at 23:30 and run until 02:00 in the morning.

From 02:00 the SABC’s feed of the SABC News channel on DStv will be simulcast overnight with the repeat of American TV series that used to be at 03:30 that's all getting axed in the latest shake-up.

Channel head Gerhard Pretorius on SABC2's latest schedule shake-up admits mistakes: Viewers 'find it difficult to find spaces where they actually belong on the channel'.

SABC2 channel head Gerhard Pretorius admits that the umpteenth new SABC2 schedule change that kicked in this week is because viewers "find it difficult to find spaces where they actually belong on the channel" and that SABC2 had made some wrong schedule changes since 2014.

Speaking on SABC2's breakfast show, Morning Live, Gerhard Pretorius also indicated that similar to SABC2's latest schedule shake-up, yet another big schedule change is looming for the beleaguered sister channel SABC3, the South African public broadcaster's only commercial TV channel.

SABC3 saw its ratings tank the past 7 months following the SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt decree of 80% local content that was haphazardly introduced on the channel since July 2016 that saw viewers flee and viewership fall.

Yesterday on Monday 6 February, the South African public broadcaster's second largest TV channel introduced yet another new and reshuffled prime time schedule - the SABC channel's third big TV schedules change in a year, not counting the temporary AFCON 2017 schedule disruption, and SABC2's sixth big schedule adjustment since mid-2014.

In June 2014 SABC bosses in an internal memo called SABC2's schedule "schizophrenic".

"What I think was confusing in the past - and this is part of why we're changing - was audiences find it difficult to find spaces where they actually belong on the channel," said Gerhard Pretorius.

Exactly as TVwithThinus in January reported SABC2 is working on and will be happening with the latest revised schedule, Gerhard Pretorius said "We decided to create a little bit more of a block of Afrikaans content and a block of lets call it Sotho content later on in the evening".

"It's a bit of a revamp, things have moved to different slots; to cater for when audiences are available."

Speaking about the disastrous move when the SABC tried to move its Afrikaans content from SABC2 to SABC3 in July 2014 but then back again after five months in late 2014, Gerhard Pretorius said "the mistake that we might have made was just to recommission the content that sat there."

"So what we're doing now is we're going to try to, every 13 weeks in a slot there will be a new offering. It might be sort of an old title that you remember, but its a new series. Alternatively there will sort of be a new title. So we're trying to keep it vibrant."


'We're going to play differently on SABC2'
Gerhard Pretorius said "we're going to play differently on SABC2".

About the latest SABC2 schedule shake-up he said "we all have our own tastes. I would prefer to have drama between 18:00 and 22:00 every night. You might like cooking between 18:00 and 22:00."

"We need to cater for 50+ million people out there. It's very difficult. And then we have licence conditions. We have to broadcast so many hours of this during the week in prime time.We have to broadcast almost 20 hours of languages other than English in prime time."

"But we listen to our audiences," said Gerhard Pretorius. "And obviously there's sort of going to be a big response to what we're doing now."


'We've not always made the best changes'
He said "we have made a few changes since 2014 - not always maybe the best changes. And when you make changes it takes about three to four months before the audiences settle again".

"The [production] industry out there, they're so busy, assisting us [SABC2], assisting SABC1 and longterm SABC3 - because they're going to change a bit later - to get all this new stuff that we need on air," said Gerhard Pretorius.

SABC announces yet another new schedule and logo for SABC3 starting from July as it dumps international content from the channel's line-up.

The SABC on Wednesday afternoon at its headquarters in Auckland Park announced yet another new schedule and another new channel logo for its rating-challenged SABC3 channel, eviscerating a large swathe of international shows and replacing it with new unknown local content and older local repeats.

A ranting Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC's controversial chief operating officer (COO) who didn't use a script, once again quickly veered sharply off-message,speaking about a lot of stuff that didn't have anything to do with the new schedule.

The latest new SABC3 schedule, dumping highly rated international content like Survivor, The Amazing Race and Days of Our Lives and coming into effect from July, comes just 4 months after the SABC's controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng in February announced and introduced a TV schedule shake-up for SABC3.

The latest new schedule, yet again moving shows around and removing some of the shows with the highest viewership ratings on the channel, is part of Hlaudi Motsoeneng dramatic makeover of the SABC's three terrestrial TV channels, ordering 90% local content be shown.

Now SABC3 is getting yet another new schedule and some new on-screen talent, with viewers who will once again have to try and find where shows moved to that remain on the schedule, where new shows are scheduled and where repeats are slotted.

The new SABC3 logo that will come into effect from July replaces the previous one that was introduced a year and 10 months ago in August 2014 and that viewers at the time slammed as "ugly" and "unimaginative".

The sweeping change will start with 80% local content on SABC3 from July - the South African Broadcasting Corporation's only commercial TV channel that is supposed to be an income-driver for the channel with a smaller public broadcasting service (PBS) mandate than sister channels SABC1 and SABC2.

While the emphasis on more local TV content is welcomed, academics and TV industry experts say the move is unsustainable long-term, given the size, capacity, skills and money of South Africa's TV biz.

To produce one minute of local content for instance cost a minimum of R5000 and despite promises since October 2014 by Hlaudi Motsoeneng of R600 million made available by the SABC to local producers, this money will not be enough to fill and sustain a 90% local content programming strategy for the three channels without compromising quality and a much higher that usual repeat and rebroadcast frequency.

At the SABC press conference - attended by Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Jimi Matthews (acting SABC CEO), Nomsa Philiso (SABC head of commercial enterprises) and Aisha Mohamed (SABC3 channel head) - Anton Heunis (SABC commercial advisor) said "more local content will stimulate our industry immensely".

SABC staff slammed for sleeping at work, drinking tea
Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "SABC will do what we believe is right for South Africa". "SABC won't be the same. This is a new SABC".

"We have taken a decision. And if I've taken a decision, no turning back. You'll make your own noise.We want to make sure we empower our own people".

"We as SABC we're doing very well. 90% we're doing very well. Reality is, international content isn't doing well for the SABC," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "You must watch SABC3. you will see amazing stuff".

"You don't see youth content on our platform. From 1 November we will have a youth content. We will go to universities and broadcast live in those universities. Not about politics, about the issues that affect young people".

"I was an actor. The changes you see you see is in my blood," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "You don't know that I work with white people. And they like me. I work with everyone".

"You who write bad about us, I think about you every time. I perform well when I have forces that don't support me". Talking in the third person, Hlaudi Motsoeneng said: 'When this man takes the podium, people clap hands".

"People have been playing here at the SABC. Sleeping here. Playing here and drinking tea". He again said that the SABC will introduce a uniform for workers. "We will have uniform at SABC. But not every day. Why other people have uniform?'

Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "I don't know what is prime time. I want prime time to be every hour, every minute". He said the SABC will show all cultural and traditional events. To Anton Heunis he said: "You have your culture. Your boerewors".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng slammed SABC TV news staff. "When you see our own journalists on the news, they're dead. You need more passion". He said: "Why should SABC TV News follow follow print media? Why can't we break news? I don't understand why eNCA on DStv channel 403 is better than SABC News".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng said a journalist from Netwerk24 asking why the SABC isn't covering the Tshwane Unrest adequately and what the SABC's stance is on SABC reporters who are unhappy, "is spoiling the party" and that he won't answer her in the press conference.

SABC3 will continue to do lifestyle and entertainment
SABC TV executive Sam Maijang said "SABC3 is where the biggest impact has been to the changes that we've made. The channel continues to speak to local lifestyle and entertainment. This is content for the multicultural South Africa but with a global outlook".

"SABC3 going forward will have no repeats in prime time from July." He said SABC3's daytime line-up has also been "invigorated".

"We've retained some key foreign content blocks. The type of foreign content that will sit on the channel will not necessarily be the same as what has been there". He said "it's a new journey for us. It's unchartered territory for us".

SABC spin doctor Kaizer Kganyago said: "Don't believe the critics. The critics who have never been in broadcasting".

Aisha Mohamed, SABC3 channel head said it was necessary to change the look of the channel after seeing how the channel was being perceived at the moment.

"[It has a] aspirational, multicultural tone. The logo went through a little bit of a restoration. We went from the square logo to a more circular look. We call it a kaleidoscope."

"There is not necessarily one solid colour. And in terms of a kaleidoscope the brand is evolving."


The 2-hour long press conference was broadcast live on SABC News (DStv 404) and was live streamed. You can watch it in its entirety here: