It should be noted that government departments have reduced their unpaid TV licence bills compared to the previous year, in which the SABC said government entities owed R56 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SABC chief financial officer Yolanda van Biljon, the public broadcaster billed roughly R5 billion in TV licence fees in 2023\/24 but only collected around R726 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TV licence non-payment has been rising in South Africa, with avoidance rates ranging from 69% in 2019 to 86% in 2024. TV licence avoidance rates in the country from 2018 to 2024 were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- 2018 <\/strong>\u2014 72%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2019 <\/strong>\u2014 69%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2020 <\/strong>\u2014 81%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2021 <\/strong>\u2014 82%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2022 <\/strong>\u2014 82%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2023 <\/strong>\u2014 84%<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 2024 <\/strong>\u2014 86%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The public broadcaster is facing two major disconnection threats: the government’s plan to switch off the country’s analogue TV signals later this year and South Africa’s signal distributor Sentech’s threat to cut its transmissions due to non-payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current analogue TV switch-off deadline of 31 December 2024 has been a point of contention for the public broadcaster, with it fearing that many South Africans may be left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue is that South Africans with analogue TV sets require a government-subsidised set-top box (STB) to receive digital TV signals before the deadline arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without the STB, these households will lose access to TV broadcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As digitisation occurs, the SABC and South Africans shouldn’t be disadvantaged. TVs being cut off is a national problem. Don’t switch off just because a deadline’s being chased. Ensure TV viewers are switched over,” City Press quoted Van Biljon as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DVbt2-set-top-box.jpg\")
South African residents require a set-top box to receive digital TV transmissions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition recently warned<\/a> that prematurely switching off analogue TV signals could harm the SABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SOS Coalition national coordinator Uyanda Siyotula, the public broadcaster’s audience numbers declined by 40% when the analogue TV signals were cut off in five of the country’s provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If we’re looking at the big provinces, it’s going to lose more than 60%,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- 2019 <\/strong>\u2014 69%<\/li>\n\n\n\n