Twenty-four-hour news and sports channels and two regional channels are among the SABC’s ambitious plans for the next year, but experts have warned that the ailing public broadcaster may be biting off more than it can chew.
Briefing Parliament’s communications committee on the SABC’s strategic plan this week, recently appointed CEO Lulama Mokhobo said it planned to launch 18 new channels to take advantage of the increased signal capacity of digital terrestrial television (DTT).
An initial batch of nine would be launched over the next year, while the others would follow at a later stage.
But William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa, questioned the SABC’s capacity to roll out so many channels, given that Mokhobo also told MPs this week it had approached the Treasury for more funds and that the SABC has yet to meet the conditions attached to a R1.47 billion government bailout it received in 2009.
Mokhobo also admitted the SABC was losing viewers and MPs warned this would affect advertising, its main source of revenue.
“I don’t know where they are going to get the content for 18 channels,” Bird told Independent Newspapers. “Where are they going to get the money?”
He said the national broadcaster was “caught between a rock and a hard place” because it had promised to roll out the channels but did not have the funding.
“They have committed to it… and they have to start DTT (digital migration),” Bird added.
DA MP Marian Shinn echoed Bird’s sentiments and said the SABC needed to “narrow its horizons”, referring to its “irresponsible planning”.
“Expectations have been raised but there’s no money to deliver,” said Shinn.
The SABC needed to “go slowly” and start with what it could afford.
The SABC told the communications committee this week it was battling to stop the exodus of viewers to subscription TV.
Mokhobo said the wealthier people became, the more viewers were lost to pay TV.
“It’s the high-income earning group that’s refusing to pay their licences,” said Mokhobo.
This was also starting to occur in black households that previously could not afford subscription television, but were becoming more stable.
MPs suggested that the quality of programming needed to improve in order to attract more viewers and advertisers.
“You’re losing viewers because your content is lousy,” said Shinn.
ANC MP Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen asked why the content was so poor when 100 percent of shows, apart from news and current affairs, was outsourced.
“What are you going to do to attract children and the youth to watch the SABC?” she asked.
While Mokhobo acknowledged that some programming was outdated, such as The Bold and the Beautiful, but said the broadcaster needed some of the money earned from advertising during these shows.
“We do need the money… so we will have to keep carrying this content,” she said.
Mokhobo said 80 percent of the broadcaster’s income was from commercial revenue, which included advertising and sponsorships. A further 18 percent came from licence fees and the rest from the Treasury.
She said programming was not poor and the main cause for the decline was “perception”.
“Yes (the viewership) is declining… but we have some very good property,” said Mokhobo.
Meanwhile, MPs welcomed a skills audit being conducted at the SABC as part of its turnaround strategy. Mokhobo said the audit would help match people with their qualifications.
Mokhobo said the audit might result in some managers being moved to other roles that might not necessarily carry the title of “manager”. The skills audit would be completed by the end of June and might be “uncomfortable” for some.
But trade unions were in full support of the process.
Communication Workers Union national spokesman Matankana Mothapo confirmed this, but added that
the unions would “never allow” retrenchment.