Minister kills proposed SABC TV licence law

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi has scrapped the controversial SABC bill, which would have set a three-year deadline for developing a new funding model for the public broadcaster.

Sunday Times reports that Malatsi wrote to Parliament speaker Thoko Didiza this past week, telling the legislature that he was withdrawing the “totally flawed” bill.

He said he had invoked his discretionary powers as minister to cancel the bill after wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders and reviewing public submissions to Parliament’s communications portfolio committee.

Malatsi believes the bill had no credible funding model, a view shared by several broadcasting experts, former SABC executives, and media watchdogs such as Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition.

“This approach does not meet the urgency required to stabilise the broadcaster and risks perpetuating an outdated licensing structure that will not provide the SABC with the necessary resources to fulfil its mandate,” Malatsi said.

The South African National Editors’ Forum also took particular issue with the minister gaining overarching political powers over the SABC.

The minister concurred, arguing that the bill would endanger the SABC’s editorial independence by giving the communications minister “additional powers” to appoint board members.

The draft bill was first published in October 2023 by then communications minister Mondli Gungubele after several years of consideration, based on inputs from key industry stakeholders — including the SABC itself.

It was intended to replace the Broadcasting Act of 1999, which is considered outdated, given developments in the broadcasting and streaming industry in the past few years.

However, the SABC Bill was immediately criticised for failing to address the SABC’s biggest problem: its dire financial struggles.

Among the bill’s proposals was that the communications minister develop a new sustainable framework for funding the broadcaster within three years of the bill’s adoption.

The portfolio committee considered potential amendments based on industry feedback after the draft legislation was first published, but Malatsi contends it is not reworkable.

“I believe that trying to amend the bill is not right,” Malatsi said. “Instead, the urgent development and implementation of a sustainable financial model will be prioritised.”

SABC in deep financial trouble

The SABC has reported repeated annual financial losses over the past decade as it struggles to compete with viewers’ shift from traditional linear TV broadcasting to streaming services.

In its 2024 financial year, it posted a roughly R200 million loss, which came on the back of a R1.13-billion loss in the previous year.

The broadcaster’s two main sources of revenue — advertising and TV licence fees — have been struggling in recent years.

Advertising revenue declined from nearly R4.5 billion in FY 2019 to about R2.81 billion in FY 2024.

TV licence compliance rates have also been in freefall, plummeting from an already poor 31% in FY 2019 just 14% in FY 2024.

As a result, TV licence revenues slumped from R968 million to R726 million.

Even government departments are failing to pay their TV licences, with an outstanding bill of R35 million by October 2024.

The SABC has bemoaned the cost of its public broadcasting mandate — mainly news programming in all the country’s indigenous languages — on its financial position.

In addition to extra production costs, ad slots in content broadcasted in smaller languages might not be as commercially attractive.

In its submission on the bill, the SABC had proposed that the TV licence be replaced with a household levy.

It argues that the levy must be collected by the country’s dominant private broadcaster and streaming service.

DStv owner MultiChoice, which is the largest private broadcaster in the country, has criticised this proposal.

“Any such obligation would raise concerns around privacy and fairness, not to mention the costs associated with system adjustments and customer service,” MultiChoice said

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse believes that the broadcaster should rather get an annual allocation of funding from National Treasury, to enable it to carry out its public broadcasting mandate.

The Free Market Foundation has proposed a more radical approach — privatise the broadcaster and allow it to compete by setting itself apart with more attractive programming.