SABC's matricless megastar Hlaudi Motsoeneng on boastful binge over SABC News channel: 'We have negotiated with MultiChoice more than half a billion! Who else can do that?'

The SABC's matricless megastar Hlaudi Motsoeneng is cementing his attention-hogging status as the South African public broadcaster's supremo enfant terrible, with the SABC's controversial acting chief operating officer (COO) doing zeaolous public boasting about the SABC's next attempt at a 24-hour TV news channel.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng who led the negotiating team from the SABC's side to start a second attempt at a 24-hour news channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform, went on the SABC's airwaves on Thursday evening shortly after the channel started on DStv, to proudly exclaim: "We have negotiated with MultiChoice more than R500 million. Half a billion! Who else can do that?"

In studio 9 being interviewed live on the air by the SABC News anchor Vabakshnee Chetty and basking in the glow of the bright studio lights, Hlaudi Motsoeneng spoke about how nobody is going to dictate to the SABC who the public broadcaster should be in business with, or about news - least of all not print media.

The SABC endured a public pummeling in the South African press which reached a crescendo in 2012 due to ongoing financial problems and instability, mismanagement, top executive and SABC board room drama, resignations and constant accusations of political interference from the ruling ANC party and biased news coverage.

"You know we have been struggling, talking for more than 12 years about 24-hour news channel. Some people thought we were not going to make it. But we have done it. We have succeeded at the SABC," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"You know the reason people are so afraid of this channel is because we cross to New York, we cross to Zimbabwe, we cross to provinces. You know, newspapers shall quote SABC, we shall not follow newspapers. They shall follow us.We should dictate. No-one should dictate for SABC."

The SABC News channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform on channel 404 replaces the SABC's first attempt at a 24-hour news channel, SABC News International.

SABC News International was launched in July 2007 but closed down three years later at the end of March 2010 after costing hundreds of millions of rands and which helped to bring the SABC to the brink of financial collapse in 2009.

MultiChoice as a private satellite pay-TV platform is giving the SABC more than half a billion rand over the next few years to run the SABC News channel, which has raised serious concerns within civil society groups.

When the SABC News anchor Vabakshnee Chetty asked Hlaudi Motsoeneng why did it take the SABC so long to get a dedicated 24-hour news channel, he bluntly responded: '"I can't answer that. I wasn't a leader. This time I'm a leader. I can just talk about the current."

"Then tell me about your vision as a leader now for this channel," asked Vabakshnee Chetty.

"People should not dictate who SABC should do business with," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "We as SABC should dictate ourselves. We have a historical partnership with MultiChoice. We have a partnership coming from sports. SABC Africa in the past we were also involved. We're saying MultiChoice is the right platform for our own, ordinary people to watch."

"Especially what is also key, at the rural areas where some of the people they don't have water, the government decision-makers, they will be able to watch such stories. Which are unique stories. But we can't be dictated by print media or other people," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"We now have been able to negotiate with MultiChoice more than R500 million. Half a billion! Who else can do that?' If you focus on problems you become your problems yourself - you can't move on. If we are able to raise R500 million - half a billion - who says we can't raise R1,5 billion after five years? Who says we can't raise revenue?" said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"Why are our own journalists quoting newspapers? If you are a journalist you need to be out there on the street. You need to have sources that you know when you talk about a story that is going to happen. We don't just want to talk about the rumours," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

At the SABC's launch event of the SABC News TV channel on Thursday afternoon one executive after the other lavished praised on Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Lulama Mokhobo thanked Hlaudi Motsoeneng, saying "we've very grateful for your strange behaviour. We sometimes think: 'Is this man mad?' You're not caring who's standing in your path and you're ready to klap them. We thank you for your tenacity."

Zandile Tshabala the SABC's interim SABC chairperson said: "Sometimes I get jealous," referring to Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "He's more famous than the SABC."

Imtiaz Patel, the group CEO for MultiChoice South Africa said "Hlaudi Motsoeneng always throws curveballs and you're right, he is more famous than the SABC," said Imtiaz Patel. He called Hlaudi Motsoeneng "a torchbearer" for the SABC.

Imtiaz Patel, MultiChoice's CEO watches the SABC's morning breakfast show Morning Live every day.

Who knew? MultiChoice's CEO Imtiaz Patel has a favourite morning show on television and it's not Expresso, Sunrise or Morning News Today but SABC2's Morning Live.

SABC2's Morning Live is being simulcast on the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News on DStv 404 which is replacing the previous SABC News International, with Morning Live shown at the same time on SABC2 and the SABC News channel.

MultiChoice is giving the SABC more than half a billion rand over the next few years to run the SABC news channel.

Interviewed on the new SABC News TV channel, Imtiaz Patel said "I watch Morning Live almost every single morning, even though I'm working, in the background. It has a special resonance," he said.

"The SABC has a special resonance. We think it [the channel] will bring something really unique and something really special to our audiences."

"For our viewers it brings diversity; it brings an alternate viewpoint. We can then compare how are particular stories by one TV channel and another and I think that will be very interesting," said Imtiaz Patel.

MultiChoice to help digitise the SABC's archives in the same way in which MultiChoice helped to digitise the ANC's archives.

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MultiChoice will help to digitise the SABC's archive in the same way the satellite pay-TV platform has digitised the ANC's archives for that political party.

MultiChoice made the announcement at the launch event on Thursday afternoon of the SABC's second attempt at establishing a 24-hour TV news channel, the SABC News channel which went live at 18:00 on Thursday evening on MultiChoice's DStv channel 404.

The SABC's SABC News International TV news channel was launched in July 2007 by the then news boss Snuki Zikalala but quickly became an albatross for the struggling public broadcaster.

Amidst a huge cash drain of millions of rands the channel which was shown on DStv was closed down three years later at the end of March 2010 after the SABC came close to the brink of financial collapse in 2009.

The private pay-TV operator MultiChoice is now giving the SABC as a public broadcaster more than half a billion rand over the next few years to run the SABC News channel as part of a new contract - up from the R80 million MultiChoice would have given the SABC over three years as part of a previous, earlier deal to set up the news channel which was scuppered.

At the launch event on Thursday Imtiaz Patel, group CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, said that the pay-TV giant "will be further assisting the SABC in digitising some of their library material as we did the ANC archives, in this way continuing to assist in preserving our country's collective history."

About the SABC News channel deal worth hundreds of millions, Imtiaz Patel said "this deal further enhances an already strong relationship and cooperation with the SABC".

'My name is Zandile," the SABC chairperson tells news anchor Peter Ndoro on the new SABC News channel when he wrongly calls her Andile.

Barely an hour into the start of the broadcast of the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour news channel, the very first on-air embarrassment took place.

The new primetime SABC News anchor Peter Ndodo didn't know and use the correct name of the interim SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala - mistakenly referring to her as Andile, after which she publicly corrected him on live television.

With the tumultuous turn-over of the SABC board and SABC board members the past few years it is difficult for journalists to keep up but Peter Ndoro, and on a SABC channel, should have known.

When Peter Ndoro, who will now be co-anchoring the SABC's flagship news bulletin on the SABC News channel on weeknights with Vabakshnee Chetty mistakenly called Zandile, Andile, she called him out on it.

"A point of correction, my name is Zandile. Zandile, not Andile," said Zandile Tshabalala.

"Sorry, sorry for that mistake," said Peter Ndoro.

The SABC as a public broadcaster needs to communicate more, says minister of communications, Yunus Carrim.

South Africa's new minister of communications, Yunus Carrim, says the SABC should be communicating much more to viewers about what the broadcaster is doing.

On the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour TV news channel Yunus Carrim said on Thursday evening that "the SABC is very, very challenged, but it is not as challenged as what is made out in the public domain."

"One of the tasks the SABC has is to communicate more about precisely what it's been able to achieve. I think if the SABC did so, the public out there would feel more confident," said Yunus Carrim.

eNCA congratulates the SABC on the start of the SABC News channel as the public broadcaster's second attempt at a 24-hour TV news channel.

The 24-hour independent TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) is congratulating the SABC and SABC News with the start of the SABC News channel as the South African public broadcaster's second try at a 24-hour TV news channel.

"We know how hard it is to launch and maintain a 24-hour news service and can appreciate the amount of work required," Patrick Conroy, the group head of news at eNCA tells TV with Thinus.

"eNCA has always held the position that a strong public broadcaster, which serves the needs of its audience, will greatly improve our democracy. The role of commercial and public broadcasters differs in society and it is important that the SABC fulfills its public duties in this regard," says Patrick Conroy.

BREAKING. SABC News launches as new 24-hour channel with Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty, 'telling the story that South Africans want to hear.'

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SABC News as the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel launched at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv channel 404 anchored by Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty using the news studio used for SABC3's daily news bulletin at 18:30

Besides a skeleton grid schedule neither the SABC, nor MultiChoice, released to the press and TV critics by the end of the business day on Thursday any programming line-up profiles or summaries, programming or presenter information, show information or what is coming up in magazine show's for the week or launch episodes, or what viewers will be seeing on the SABC News channel.

SABC News is getting an investment of over half a billion rand from the satellite pay-TV provider over the next few years.

SABC News - the SABC's second attempt at a continuous TV news channel - replaces the SABC News International channel which was launched in July 2007, ran for a few years, also on MultiChoice's DStv platform, and cost millions of rands but which was then shut down three years later at the end of March 2010 when the public broadcaster starting running into cashflow problems.

The new SABC News channel has gone through various permutations the past three years and several false starts over the past two years, and has been described as a vanity project the SABC, recovering from near collapse in 2009, can ill afford. The channel is also not available to all South African TV viewers who are compelled by law to pay a TV licence.

Peter Ndoro from SABC2's Morning Live breakfast show where he has been seen covering business news will from now on be the new co-anchor on weeknights on the SABC's primetime flagship English news bulletin.

That new news bulletin will start at 18:00 on the SABC News channel, until 19:30, with the broadcast which will be simulcast on SABC3 from 18:30 until 19:30.

"Telling the story that South Africans want to hear," said Vabakshnee Chetty about the new SABC News channel after which president Jacob Zuma was the first in-studio on-air guest to be interviewed on the new South African TV news channel.

SABC News as a 24-hour TV news channel now joins the existing and independent eNCA (DStv 403). ANN7 as a third South African TV news channel will be launching soon on MultiChoice's DStv channel 405.

"It's a historic day for us here at the SABC, we're entering new territory in launching this dedicated news channel," said Vabakshnee Chetty.

"This is a dedicated news channel, the new kid on the block as it were," said Peter Ndoro. "But we've been broadcasting for 37 years, so we're not quite new to the news game but this is certainly newer for us in terms of a dedicated news channel," said Peter Ndoro, omitting the fact that the SABC already had a dedicated news channel before.

"It's the 77th anniversary of the SABC, and the 37th anniversary of the first television broadcast in South Africa," said Peter Ndoro.

Just before the SABC 24 Hour News Channel launched at 18:00 president Jacob Zuma spoke at the SABC's launch event function, saying that "the SABC 24 Hour News Channel must seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption".

The SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo who also spoke during the launch event noted "the bottles of real champagne" for guests on the tables at Henley Studios and saying that the SABC staff working on the SABC 24 Hour News Channel will have a "tough task ahead".

President Jacob Zuma, speaking to Vabakshnee Chetty, said "I think this news channel is long overdue as a country and the continent. That is has happened now is exciting."

The SABC is primarily using Studio 9 for the SABC News channel - the one viewers have seen so far on SABC3. The SABC News channel is using a sQ Server system from Quantel, which will replace the Vortex Pinnacle. In addition the SABC changed the newsroom system from Newstar to ENPS.

Although SABC News launched in standard definition 16:9 aspect ratio, all systems are HD capable.

The SABC says the public broadcaster has 11 existing newsrooms across the respective provinces, that each newsroom is fully staffed with journalists and that these newsrooms have the capacity to produce between 30 and 40 stories daily.

BREAKING. SABC News channel launches 'with bottles of real champagne'; Lulama Mokhobo, SABC CEO, says 'tough task ahead'.

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The SABC, funded by MultiChoice with hundreds of millions of rands for the establishment of its new SABC News 24-hour channel on DStv channel 404, held a launch event on Thursday afternoon in Henley Studios where the SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo remarked that "for the first time in the history of the SABC I see bottles of real champagne".

The launch was attended by president Jacob Zuma, SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo, the SABC's acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Nolo Letele, the executive chairman of MultiChoice South Africa, Imtiaz Patel, the group CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, interim SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala, Lesotho's prime minister Thomas Thabane, the acting head of SABC news Jimi Matthews, South Africa's new minister of communications Yunus Carrim, and soccer boss Irvin Khoza.

Imtiaz Patel and Nolo Letele were called to the podium together with Eben Greyling, the CEO of pay-TV platforms of Naspers, but while the first two appeared Eben Greyling was nowhere to be seen.

President Jacob Zuma spoke and said the SABC 24 Hour News channel "must seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption".

Lulama Mokhobo, SABC CEO, who's speech was highly melodramatic at times and lavished effusive praise on president Jacob Zuma, said the SABC took note that "the SABC cannot continue to be lumbering and blundering along".

Lulama Mokhobo thanked the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng, saying "we've very grateful for your strange behaviour. We sometimes think: 'Is this man mad?' You're not caring who's standing in your path and you're ready to klap them. We thank you for your tenacity," said Lulama Mokhobo.

[Zandile Tshabala earlier said "sometimes I get jealous," referring to Hlaudi Motsoeneng,"he's more famous than the SABC."

"Jimi Matthews for the news team, for the unsung heroes, we know you have a tough task ahead," said Lulama Mokhobo. We also know the determination is going to carry us through - the cameramen, the journalists, the riggers - all those people working in the news room. And the channel managers who continue to make sure that we broadcast regardless of whether we're going through stormy seas," said Lulama Mokhobo.

"You made it happen even when the studios at the SABC burned down," Lulama Mokhobo said.

"Mister president, you might not be aware but you're sitting where it happened. People with sharp noses say they can still smell the smoke," said Lulama Mokhobo.

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng always throws curveballs and youre right, he is more famous than the SABC," said Imtiaz Patel.

"We're very proud to be here to finally witness the launch of the SABC News 24-hour channel," he said.

"SABC News channel gives the SABC immediate access to roughly 5 million homes, roughly 15 to 20 million viewers. This is a powerful platform from which they can garner lucrative advertising revenue - one of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's negotiating tactics," said Imtiaz Patel, calling Hlaudi Motsoeneng a "torch-bearer".

BREAKING. SABC News 24-hour channel must 'seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption,' says president Jacob Zuma.

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The SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News, launching at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv platform on channel 404 "is being established at the right time", says president Jacob Zuma who is speaking at the channel's launch event being held at the SABC's headquarters at Auckland Park, saying "we hope this channel will seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption".

ALSO READ: SABC News channel launches "with bottles of real champagne"; SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo says "tough road ahead" for SABC's new 24-hour news channel.

"This channel will only be available on the DStv platform initially," said Jacob Zuma who struggled to read his speech at the launch of the SABC's SABC News channel.

SABC News replaces the SABC's first attempt at a 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News International, which was canned.

Speaking at the launch, president Jacob Zuma said "this will ensure a test phase that will pair the SABC for its roll out nationally of digital television. It is important that this 24 hour seven days a week channel provides success to news and information that is within easy reach of most citizens."

"I hope it will indeed be news," said Jacob Zuma. "Real news and education material and proper entertainment. you know what I mean. Ha Ha. I'm not going to say anything."

The SABC News channel will start with a two hour news show.

President Jacob Zuma will be interviewed from the news studios, following his speech this afternoon. The channel will also be covering the Zimbabwe elections.

The SABC 24-hour news channel will cross over to various South African provinces this evening and also interview Lulama Mokhobo, the SABC CEO, as well as an interview with Pravin Gordhan, the minister of finance.

Other inserts include a look at the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as an interview with Lesotho's prime minister Thomas Thabane, and a planned live crossing to Kenya for East African news.