At 6pm on the 1st of August 2013, the SABC News channel went live on DStv Channel 404 with a live (and very laid back) interview of President Jacob Zuma conducted by Prime Time News anchors Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty.
A News Channel From The SABC: Attempt Number 3
It was not the SABC's first attempt at a news channel. It was not even their second. First was their primarily news with a bit of entertainment channel, SABC Africa, which aired exclusively on the DStv platform before being cut from the platform in 2008 due to low viewership. (That channel ceased broadcasting on August 1st as well)
Next was SABC News International which they launched on Sentech's Vivid platform in 2007. However, that platform in itself was never quite popular and the channel shut down soon after, even though the SABC slated it for their bouquet of channels when Digital Terrestrial Television finally takes to the air. The channel itself, which cost a reported R85 million per year, was silently closed in 2010.
The SABC News Channel: The Start
Though it was pushed out multiple times since a launch in April 2011, the SABC's third attempt at a news channel finally went live on the 1st of August 2013.
Many were skeptical about the launch of the channel, saying things like it would end up being a propaganda channel while others questioned why the SABC would attempt to launch another news channel after the previous two failed and considering the financial position the SABC was in at the time of launch.
Though the channel was relatively dull compared to other news channels on DStv, when yet another local news channel, ANN7 went live two weeks later with all their on air errors, people started realising the SABC News channel is not too bad afterall.
Over their first year on air, the channel has slowly expanded and improved their lineup from what it was at launch. At launch, the channel's schedule was filled with wildlife shows and even the kids news show that airs on SABC1 as well as a way to ensure they have something to air at all hours.
However, these soon fell away as the group expanded news programs like the excellent Newsroom with Eben Jansen (which is also the only news show in the country simulcast live on Youtube daily )to ensure more live news throughout the day.
| Francis Herd joined the SABC news channel as prime time business anchor from rival news channel, eNCA |
The channel does, however, have a rather weak primetime to late night schedule. Its main prime time block from 6pm and 9pm was recently adusted to make way for more live news at 8pm, where there was previously a business bulletin.
Their main news bulletin, Prime Time News with Vabakshnee Chetty and Peter Ndoro, which at 90 min was already the shortest of all prime time news bulletins on South African news channels (eNCA's NewsNight is three hours long while ANN7's Prime is 2 hours and has only one anchor) was recently shortened to 60min, from 6:30pm-7:30pm. with rest of prime time filled with a daily sports show, a business show (the only one on the 3 news channels), a 30 minute News @ 8 bulletin then reruns of the SABC's African language bulletins that were broadcast earlier in the night on their free to air channels.
The SABC News Channel: The News as Seen on SABC 1, 2 and 3
The one issue I do have with the channel is the near lack of original content: Its breakfast show, Morning Live, is just a simulcast of the show that existed before the channel on SABC 2, with only one hour exclusively on the channel, which is basically free considering its the same staff just staying on air another hour. Its lunch time hour business-centric bulletin is the same as on SABC3, so no additional costs there, their primetime show is simulcast on SABC3 as well, and so is their Afrikaans news bulletin.
After their final live news bulletin ends at 8:30pm, much earlier than the midnight benchmark set by the other news channels, they rerun African language news bulletins that aired earlier in the evening on SABC 1 and 2 and finally at 11pm they have a pretaped one hour news bulletin.
With a schedule like this, one can clearly see why this channel is not exactly the most expensive news channel around.
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| Vabakshnee Chetty and Peter Ndoro anchors the SABC News channel's Prime Time news bulletin that is also seen on SABC 3 |
The Way Forward
As the SABC News channel celebrates one year on air today (though one wouldn't know as there was no mention of it on air nor did any anchor tweet about), I can't help but wonder where it goes from here.
It has been said that when Digital Terrestrial Television eventually launches in South Africa, the channel will be part of the SABC's free-to-air bouquet, though there is the possibility that this might not happen considering the large price tag the channel has and particular wording in a recent press release that made me question whether the channel will go free-to-air.
One thing that one cannot ignore is exactly how cramped up the channels prime time schedule is as it tries to squeeze in as many languages as possible. By doing so, the overall quality of the news content suffers as this means the last news bulletin with fresh content ends at a very early 8:30pm to accomodate the other languages. If it was up to me I would launch a second SABC news channel dedicated to African languages, which is only fair if you think about the fact that the SABC lacks African laguage news in the morning and for most of the day, and make this channel the best English service it could be considering the vast resources already under the control of the SABC.
One thing I would like to see is the improvement in the channel's on air presentation not only in its news but also its magazine programming. When one looks at the SABC Africa magazine shows that still air after midnight on SABC 2 (SIX YEARS after that channel closed) and compare them with the magazine shows on the new SABC News channel, you will easily see how superior the older shows are to the magazine shows on the new SABC News channel. These include everything from production values, includuing the graphics, to the better presenters on the older SABC Africa shows.
There are also some bright spots on the channel as well. The main one, for me at least, by far is its excellent coverage of live events. Be it the passing of former president Nelson Mandela, the elections, the opening of parliament or any other live event covered by the channel, one really go an all hands on deck kind of feel to the coverage and they really go all out. It is coverage like this that I would like to see from the channel moving forward. Think about it: More and more people are getting their news from the internet instead of watching television. It is because of this that international channels like CNN are slowly moving away from generic news bulletins towards providing rolling coverage of live events and happenings. SABC News is in the perfect position to lead that trend in the South African market considering the resources under their control and their abilities to provide amazing live event coverage.
Since launching a year ago, the SABC News channel has grown to become the second most watched news channel on the DStv platform, behind eNCA and is expected to bring in R25 million in ad revenue to the SABC this year alone.
Though the channel has come a long way since launch exactly one year ago, the only way the channel can go from here is still up. With the three South African news channels on the air at the moment, each needs to find their perfect identity that distinguishes it from the rest of the pack.
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