Stern warning to the SABC
State signal distributor Sentech says it can no longer afford to carry the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC’s) non-payment of signal distribution costs.
Presenting before the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies, Sentech CEO Tebogo Leshope described the matter as “extremely urgent”.
He said Sentech believes the issue of non-payment by the SABC cannot be deferred to the finalisation of the SABC Bill or the finalisation of its new funding model.
“If there’s one thing we want this Portfolio Committee to note from our sustainability concern, it is the inability of the key customer to pay,” he said.
“It is a material and significant risk that we are facing right now. Simply put, it is a disaster in the making because we have run out of financial capacity to aid the SABC account.”
Leshope said the SABC will have short paid its signal distribution payments by 25% to 30% in the 2025 financial year.
“The monthly invoice is about R67 million. For the 2025 financial year, the SABC, on a month-to-month basis, paid R51 million there, which was a short payment of about R16 million,” he said.
“This is a concern for us. We do believe that this non-payment matter cannot be deferred to the finalisation of the SABC Bill or the finalisation of the funding model. It is extremely urgent.”
The issue of non-payment for signal distribution by the SABC has been a significant concern for Sentech for some time now.
Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies chair Khusela Diko recently warned that the SABC could face a signal blackout by the end of 2025.
She warned that Sentech could not continue “carrying” the SABC without the broadcaster paying for its signal distribution services.
“They indicated that they don’t think they can continue with their operations in the current state beyond the end of December this year,” said Diko.
Digital migration adding pressure
In addition to its woes of the SABC not paying for its services, Sentech faces another significant financial drain: running both analogue and digital TV signals simultaneously.
Known as dual illumination, the practice has been costly for the signal distributor, and the SABC is one of the broadcasters forcing it to maintain both signals.
South Africa’s broadcast digital TV migration project has dragged on at a snail’s pace since the country switched on its first digital terrestrial television signals in November 2008.
The ultimate goal of the migration was for everyone who relied on a terrestrial TV signal (i.e. not satellite) to switch to digital and terminate South Africa’s old analogue TV broadcasts.
Free-to-air broadcasters, such as the SABC and eMedia, are concerned that prematurely terminating analogue signals would leave many of their viewers without access to critical information.
As these broadcasters generate much of their revenue from advertising, they are also concerned that a premature switch-off could cause major harm to their finances.
Until such time as analogue TV signals are switched off in South Africa, Sentech must continue to run both signals simultaneously, incurring significant costs.
In November 2024, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies said dual illumination had cost R1.23 billion over the past decade.
It also said no funding had been allocated for dual illumination in the previous financial year, 2024/25. It said dual illumination costs were estimated to be between R90 million and R167 million.
The table below shows South Africa’s annual dual illumination spending between 2014/15 and 2023/24.
| Year | Dual Illumination cost |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | R131,236,588 |
| 2022/23 | R136,398,570 |
| 2021/22 | R167,082,781 |
| 2020/21 | R146,000,150 |
| 2019/20 | R130,562,733 |
| 2018/19 | R134,933,181 |
| 2017/18 | R89,805,901 |
| 2016/17 | R100,727,869 |
| 2015/16 | R100,727,689 |
| 2014/15 | R89,348,963 |
| Total | R1,226,824,425 |
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