SABC to launch 24-hour news on DStv

Written by TVSA Team from the blog SABC on 05 Jul 2013
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[Submitted via press release]

SABC TO BROADCAST 24 HOUR NEWS CHANNEL ON MULTICHOICE

Johannesburg, Friday 05 July 2013 - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is pleased to announce that it has signed a multi-channel agreement with Multichoice South Africa. The main element of the agreement will be the broadcasting of the SABC’s 24-Hour News Channel.

The decision to launch the channel on this platform is in line with the public service broadcaster’s preparations for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). When the migration to DTT happens, the news channel will be broadcast on both platforms.

Mr. Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC’s Chief Operations Officer (ACOO) said “One of the key undertakings of the news channel is that it will provide an opportunity for the SABC to enhance its public service mandate and extend its focus on provincial stories and the different official languages”.

“We are very excited about this partnership with Multichoice as it will expose South African news stories to an audience not only in the country, but outside of South Africa as well. As a public service broadcaster our mandate is to entertain, inform and educate and there is no better vehicle than news and current affairs to deliver on this. We are cognisant of the fact that millions of South Africans rely on the SABC for their news and to be able to extend our reach further, can only be to the benefit of the South African public” concluded Mr. Motsoeneng.

Jimi Matthews, Acting G.E. News and Current Affairs, expressed his opinion, that events over the past few weeks once again amplified the need for a 24-hour news platform. “Without our own news channel, SABC television news is constantly having to play catch-up”.

Multichoice South Africa Group CEO, Mr. Imtiaz Patel stated that “We are delighted to conclude this agreement with the SABC as we believe it will enhance our local content offering on DStv. The news channel in particular will bring diversity to our news programming, as it will provide our audiences with different views and news from an African perspective”.

The news channel will be launched by the SABC’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Ms. Lulama Mokhobo, on 1 August 2013 where more information will be communicated.

It will be broadcast on DStv channel 404.

4 Comments

TVSA Team
05 Jul 2013 16:09

Just heard ... apparently the channel won't actually be launching in August as suggested in the release. You'll see it says it launches in August - which suggests it goes live then but then it says more info will be given then - it's looking like the "launch" will deliver more info but not the actual channel.

Paul lucio
05 Jul 2013 18:49

What a farce that channel will be. Competing against Enca and soon to be launchd Ann7, good luck to them though. South Africans wont even be compensated for SABC nd sentecks failure to encript our tv licience, bailout money channels which were beamed for free to southern african countries.

Cest la Vie
06 Jul 2013 00:51

I don't even watch SABC news, but goodluck to them hope it works out.

lejazz
08 Jul 2013 10:08

Let's hope this one will go right and all the best to SABC. If they are wise they must hit eNCA where it hurts most which is not repeating news bulletins umpteenth times a day. The channel must also report objectively. Now the masses will be waiting for SABC Sport channel.

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