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2. Purpose of this presentation. SOS has few (any?) hard commercial broadcasting skill/expertise:SABC a huge corporation with massive budgets, large number of employees, difficult public mandate etcRequires a sophisticated/practical approach to the problem of public broadcasting: both funding/cont
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1. 1 SABC’s Funding Model – Options for the Future Justine Limpitlaw
Media Law Consultant
Academic, University of Pretoria
2. 2 Purpose of this presentation SOS has few (any?) hard commercial broadcasting skill/expertise:
SABC a huge corporation with massive budgets, large number of employees, difficult public mandate etc
Requires a sophisticated/practical approach to the problem of public broadcasting: both funding/content issues
We cannot stick to old modes of thinking in the light of: digital migration, international trends, convergence and new sources of content delivery eg cell phones, computers, etc
Aim: to raise potential model(s) that will be controversial, devil’s advocate, puts the cat among the pigeons, stir debate etc
3. 3 Funding to follow function Key Issue: What the role of a public broadcaster should be?
Total Citizen Empowerment:
Creating SA citizens as assets for the country
Overcoming legacy of apartheid
Development of the unemployed, the unskilled, the poor
Ability to engage in informed participation in our democracy:
Requires: high quality, excellent news, information, current affairs, educational content
Requires: mother tongue languages
Nation Building: national identity, culture etc
Fills in gaps from: commercial/community broadcasters
4. 4 Funding to follow function Key Issue: What the role of a public broadcaster should be?
Developed countries: less critical need for a public broadcaster because of diversity of sources of information: radio, TV, Internet, commercial and community broadcasters ie the educated and the wealthy can choose/pay for their own sources of information
Developing countries: public broadcasting critical because no/few sources of relevant info ie news, current affairs, local language content, educational content – PBS critical to empowering the public
5. 5 SABC’s Mandate/Funding Model SABC Mandate - most complex/difficult in the world given:
11 official languages
Regional requirements
Local content requirements
Unclear Charter
SABC Funding Sources:
Commercial revenue (ads, sponsorship etc): 78%
TV licence revenue: 17%
Direct Govt funding: 2%
Other: 3%
Current crisis: SABC facing R500m loss this year! And SABC is using a commercial model to fund PBS
6. 6 International Trends Ofcom’s recent report on future of public broadcasting:
Currently two broad models:
BBC: no advertising – TV licence fee funded entirely (97% public payment of the TV licence) ie over 3 billion pounds annually
Other operators with public mandates: Channel 4, 5, ITV etc
Commercially funded
But with public mandates ie local content, indep production etc but note no language requirements etc.
Recognition: these other operator ie hybrid models simply not sustainable going into the future (within 3-5 years) options:
Spread BBC funding amount more PBS operators OR
They become purely commercial ie only BBC has public mandate requirements
7. 7 SABC Funding: options? Proceeding with hybrid content/funding model:
Key problem: simply can’t be both commercial/public
Not enough money for current/digital additional TV channels under this model?
Certain popular ie commercially important content to become even more expensive eg sports rights – crisis over loss of PSL rights
Danger: less and less real public interest content ie not a real PBS
8. 8 SABC Funding: options? Public Programming ie purely PBS NOT a hybrid content model
One TV channel devoted to key/excellent public interest content ie SA-related news, info, current affairs, educational content
Fewer radio channels: devoted to key/excellent public interest content ie SA-related news, info, current affairs, educational content
Aim: citizen empowerment
No ads ie no commercial imperatives at all
Language issue: tailoring TV to reach most, not all, people ie isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, English, Afrikeens only.
Note: commercial/community broadcasters could also have public service obligations:
language requirements re minority languages: Xitsonga, Tshivenda, Setswana, Sepedi, siSwati and isiNdebele
Local content/indep production etc
Regional issues
Note often commercial/community broadcasters can also play NB public role eg Radio 702
9. 9 SABC Funding: options? Public Funding ie purely PBS NOT a hybrid funding model
TV licence fee model unlikely to work in SA
Culture of non-payment/high levels of poverty
No single collection point eg unlike certain international models based on collecting by a single electricity regulator
Switch off through new DTB/pay as you go model is counter-productive ie no access to PBS
Govt will not pay the full cost (billions of Rands a year will be required) through treasury allocations due to other social priorities eg education, housing, health, (arms deal!)
Also: danger of “he who pays the piper calls the tune” ie becomes a state broadcaster through the back door
10. 10 SABC Funding: options? Public Funding ie purely PBS NOT a hybrid funding model
Privatise. Note: not in the sense of having corporate shareholders but in the sense of slimming down ie lean PBS service ie selling off non-PBS assets to fund PBS long term:
sell off 2 (or 6 incl. digital channels) TV channels and at least 3 Radio Stations eg Metro, 5fm, Good Hope ie music stations – SABC to keep the proceeds of sales to highest qualified bidders (unlike last time)
Use the dividends/interest off the proceeds of privatisation to fund the PBS TV channel and radio channels
Tax from privatised stations to go to SABC directly eg 12 years ago: Highveld Stereo made R26 m a year for the SABC – now making R260 million a year for Primedia ie now significant tax revenues to cover reduction revenues from the stations.
Also: would result in a diverse range of commercial broadcasters likely to be more successful than the SABC at commercial functions