SABC3 introduced the channel's new on-air look and logo this week. As I've mentioned previously, the channel's going through changes between now and February which includes new branding.
The look's gone live on telly and online, on
SABC3's website,
Twitter and
Facebook. This is the logo and colour scheme:
The logo appears in the top right hand corner on air, with the channel's new tagline "Find it on 3."
Except it doesn't just appear there, it's a Christmas Tree of on-air logo's because it doesn't stop flashing and moving. It moves every 30 seconds - literally - it's so distracting I was forced to time it!
It morphs between different versions of the logo to create an overly complicated sequence. It starts with "Find it on 3" then it changes to "SABC3" and then it disappears completely for 30 seconds so if you tune in it at that time, there's no indication of what channel you're on.
It's also huge, particularly when it says: "Find it on 3" - the words roll out with the graphic but they don't roll back so it remains there and upstages the show.
Also, what exactly are we going to find on SABC3? Saying "Find it on" means nothing if you
can't actually find it on the channel.
Where do you find shows like The Voice, The Sing-Off and Celebrity Apprentice? Oh wait, hang on .. they lost the rights to these great shows to other channels.
Where do you find Bates Motel, Devious Maids, Game of Thrones, all the cool shows people want to see?
Not on SABC3 but on M-Net and M-Net Series.
Instead, what you find on SABC3 are the 80's re-runs we've been tortured with for years, cookery shows with people that nobody knows and dated series that were once a hit.
The channel has to live up to the tagline for it to mean anything!
That said, it does inject a whole lot of expectation into the mix - something for the channel to live up to. We've been told that changes are coming between now and February and that it'll be a very different channel by then.
What will we find in Feb?