SABC faces revamp

By Nicola Mawson, Contributing journalist

Johannesburg, 22 Jul 2009

The South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) financial model is outdated and needs to be revisited in the face of impending competition, says the Department of Communications (DOC).

In its “Public Service Broadcasting: Repositioning Broadcasting for National Development Discussion Paper”, communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda says a legislative review of the broadcaster is “inevitable”. The paper was released for comment this week and the public can respond until 20 August.

“The rapid technological developments, manifested through convergence and broadcasting digital migration, and the management and financial crisis besieging the SABC as a public broadcaster, have made it evidently clear that legislative review is necessary,” he says.

However, Nyanda adds: “It serves no purpose to apportion blame on any institution or individuals.”

The broadcaster was recently under severe pressure after its board quit and was replaced with an interim board. Allegations of mismanagement have also plagued the company.

The SABC has also been in the news lately, after it was disclosed that it needs a R2 billion cash injection from government and has failed to pay some of its bills, particularly to MultiChoice and media production houses. This week, spokesman Kaizer Kganyago would not comment on how much debt the broadcaster is in, as its results are being audited.

Revenue concerns

The DOC's discussion paper says commercial funding for the broadcaster, through selling advertising, may no longer be a viable option “due to increased competition”, as more pay TV service providers, such as Walking on Water TV and On Digital Media, are soon set to start broadcasting.

Commercial funding accounts for about 77% of the broadcaster's revenue stream, states the document.

The paper questions the viability of the collection of licence fees as a source of revenue. It states that, of the eight million households that had television sets in 2007, 2.67 million were fully paid up, but 2.56 million had only made partial payments.

In addition, 88 000 had taken out a licence, but made no additional payment, and 1.2 million had made one payment at the time the television was purchased. The discussion document says collecting fees is difficult in SA as a result of the number of poor households.

Government funding, the paper points out, only accounts for 2% to 4% of the broadcaster's revenue and has largely been used for infrastructure projects. It asks how much funding the state should give to the SABC in light of its public-broadcasting mandate.

Migration mandate

It also says the public broadcaster will have to be re-organised as a result of the migration from the old-fashioned analogue signal to the new digital signal. The migration “imposes additional obligations relating to the provision of new developmental channels, including three digital ones”, states the discussion document.

SA is in the midst of a three-year dual-illumination period that will lead up to a switchover from analogue broadcasting to a digital format. SA intends to turn off the analogue signal in 2011, ahead of the global deadline of 2015.

Welcome debate

Anton Harber, Caxton professor of journalism and media studies and director of the Journalism Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, welcomes the debate about the SABC.

He says, while he has not studied the discussion document in depth, he is “pleased they are setting out on the process” of examining the broadcaster and the role it plays as a public broadcaster.

Harber says the document also opens up a debate as to how the board is appointed, which has been a controversial issue, as well as how closely government should work with the broadcaster.

“The roots of the current crises lie in the appointment of the board,” he adds.

Harber envisages the SABC remaining a public broadcaster, but the debate as to its revenue source hinges around its current dual model of receiving both state and advertising funding.