The SABC is set to introduce “language-based’ channels to cater to the diversity of South African TV audiences, says the state broadcaster’s COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Motsoeneng says these channels are being implemented because South Africans have been complaining about a lack of lingual and cultural representation on local TV channels. The channels will be grouped according to language groups. “As the SABC accelerates its digital migration the organisation has decided to create television channels that will strictly cover a cluster of language groups to ensure that the SABC audiences are better served in the language of their choice,’ the SABC said in a statement.
“At this stage the envisaged channels will be grouped according to specific language compatibility, for example, Sesotho, Setswana, and Sepedi will be grouped as the Sotho channel; isiZulu, isiXhosa, Siswati, and isiNdebele will form another channel to be called the Nguni channel for the Nguni speaking viewership,’ said Motsoeneng.
“The third channel will cater for xiTsonga and tshiVenda, while the fourth channel will cater for all Afrikaans speaking viewers inclusive of the Khoisan community among others. The new channels will be the melting pots of culture and traditions of all those languages,’ he continued.
According to Motsoeneng, the new channels will only broadcast local content and will open the way for local creatives to create content in their own languages.
Motsoeneng added that the SABC has also decided that it will advertise its employment vacancies and tender advertisements on the SABC’s television, radio, and digital platforms only. “This decision will be implemented with immediate effect, henceforth, the public broadcaster will no longer place advertisements in any print and other media platforms.’
“The SABC also decided that the services of external marketing agencies will no longer be utilised as the corporation has sufficient internal creative capacity to deliver on any related marketing campaigns,’ he concluded.
