“The money required to sustain the SABC will need to come from some form of public funding,” Bird said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Communication Minister Solly Malatsi’s options will include some form of public-commercial model.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malatsi has said that his department is developing a new funding model for the SABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While TV licence delinquency has been identified as one of the root causes of the broadcaster’s financial demise, with only 13% of South Africans currently paying the tax, Bird said several other factors have also contributed to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of these is the analogue switch-off, which Bird said saw the beginning of a project to switch off analogue broadcasts before many SABC-viewing households were ready to receive digital TV signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The analogue switch-off has been in the works for roughly two decades, with 12 ministers failing to deliver on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest deadline for its finalisation to be missed was 31 December 2024, with Malatsi pushing it out to 31 March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was primarily due to the perceived impact as the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition warned that switching off remaining analogue TV signals could result in the SABC losing more than 60% of its audience<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eMedia CEO Khalik Sheriff shared this view<\/a>. While he acknowledged that analogue TV signals must eventually be eliminated, he said more than 4.3 million households rely on them for information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bird said South Africa has also wasted several opportunities to get additional revenue, such as a recent spectrum auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the need for the analogue switch-off is to free up spectrum for other purposes, such as mobile communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bird said the R14 billion generated from the auction that went back into the fiscus should have been invested in a dedicated public interest content fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bird’s argument that the analogue switch-off is a significant factor in the SABC’s demise is curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The public broadcaster has not reported a profit since its 2014\/15 financial year, and its advertising revenue has been in decline<\/a> for at least seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked whether the SABC should receive a portion of tax revenue instead of the TV licence, Bird said it could be a viable solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, passing that into law could take five to seven years and will not help with the broadcaster’s dire financial position in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malatsi is assessing the state broadcaster’s funding mechanisms<\/a>, such as TV licence tax and advertising revenue streams, to determine what works effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malatsi also wants to investigate innovative ways of generating revenue for the public entity that leverages digital transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Media-Monitoring-Africa-WIlliam-Bird.jpg\")
A revised funding model<\/h2>\n\n\n\n