{"id":629312,"date":"2026-02-15T13:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=629312"},"modified":"2026-02-15T13:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:18:03","slug":"dstv-is-making-the-same-mistake-as-the-sabc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/629312-dstv-is-making-the-same-mistake-as-the-sabc.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv is making the same mistake as the SABC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MultiChoice owner Canal+ has reportedly been sluggardly in approving production contracts for local content on DStv\u2019s kykNET and Mzansi Magic channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing anonymous industry sources, Rapport reports<\/a> that there are heaps of unsigned contracts for local content, including series and soaps, at Canal+\u2019s headquarters in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French media titan has reportedly stripped MultiChoice and M-Net of their autonomy to approve local productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the American show Landman<\/em> has been dubbed into Afrikaans for kykNET to replace the 21:00 timeslot from next Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The character of Tommy Norris, played by Billy-Bob Thornton, will be voiced by De Waal Stemmet. Cami Miller, the character portrayed by Demi Moore, is voiced by Renske Jacobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rapport, industry insiders are wondering whether translated and dubbed movies and shows from the U.S. and France are what DStv viewers should look forward to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could be a huge mistake, as the SABC recently learned when it cancelled the popular show 7de Laan<\/em> and made several other changes that alienated its Afrikaans audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SABC\u2019s Afrikaans strategy confused many industry insiders, who warned that the Afrikaans audience was still attractive to advertisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public broadcasters\u2019 own research showed that kykNET was the most valuable channel for advertisers in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, the SABC admitted that it made mistakes in reshuffling and reducing Afrikaans content over the last three years without conducting thorough research on the potential impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2023, the broadcaster has cut at least two decades-old Afrikaans shows \u2014 popular daily soap 7de Laan<\/em> and actuality series Fokus<\/em> \u2014 from SABC 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, it moved all its remaining Afrikaans programming to S3 (formerly SABC 3), which has substantially lower viewership and advertiser appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That included shifting the Afrikaans news bulletin from 18:30 on SABC 2 to 20:30 on S3. That move was widely criticised by Afrikaans viewers, many of whom said they were already in bed by that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broadcaster\u2019s complete omission of the bulletin over the weekend of 5 and 6 April 2025 caused an uproar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABC reverses course<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While it blamed the incident on a scheduling error, insiders at the broadcaster told veteran broadcasting journalist Thinus Ferreira that the removal was deliberate<\/a> and had just come earlier than planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a more recent interview with Ferreira, SABC platforms head David Makubyane acknowledged the changes had prompted significant backlash from Afrikaans viewers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the SABC, we realised we must create new Afrikaans content,\u201d he said. \u201cThe complaints we received, the letters \u2014 we have listened to our viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makubyane confirmed that the broadcaster would permanently return the Afrikaans news bulletin to its regular 18:30 slot, seven days a week, and would produce new Afrikaans content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first will be the telenovella Paradys<\/em>, set in a fictional coloured (mixed-race) community based on working-class Johannesburg communities like Eldorado Park and Westbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems to be the SABC\u2019s answer to kykNET series like Suidooster<\/em> and Skemergrond<\/em>. Makubyane said that Paradys<\/em> would have broader appeal, including targeting people who could not understand Afrikaans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2025, SABC Afrikaans TV news bulletin editor Dani\u00eblle Wass admitted in an interview on RSG that the changes were not based on any market research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an expensive trial-and-error to see the bulletins so up and down,\u201d Wass said. \u201cPerhaps we should have looked at this more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the lack of research failed us in being able to know who our viewers are, what our viewers want, and what they are comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broadcaster previously criticised<\/a> \u201cbroad assumptions\u201d that changes to its Afrikaans programming had negatively impacted its own advertising revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABC communications head Mmoni Ngubane maintained the broadcaster continued to record positive results in several areas of its Afrikaans portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Corporation continues to invest in a broader content and scheduling strategy aimed at strengthening its language offering, including Afrikaans,\u201d Ngubane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it would not share any revenue information for Afrikaans channels and programming to disprove claims in news reports that it had lost millions of rands because of the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth about why the SABC tried to move its Afrikaans programming to SABC 3 may be more nuanced than initially believed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a presentation to a parliamentary subcommittee about potential financial models to replace SABC TV Licences, BMIT revealed that SABC 2 was considered \u201cnon-commercial\u201d, whereas SABC 3 was considered a commercial channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice owner Canal+ is reportedly not approving production contracts for local content on DStv\u2019s kykNET and Mzansi Magic channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":545061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[85,16570,475,361],"class_list":["post-629312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-dstv","tag-kyknet","tag-multichoice","tag-sabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":629315,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629312\/revisions\/629315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}