South Africa Broadcasting has been under financial pressures and severe monetary constraints for some years. Local reports say that pressure is mounting on communications minister Solly Malatsi to act to rescue the SABC as it struggles to pay its escalating bills.

September 8th saw reports that State-owned signal distributor Sentech, whose primary client is SABC, is “subsidising” the public broadcaster’s signal distribution expenses to the tune of R70-million/month (about €3.4 million).

According to parliament’s chair of its communications committee, the ANC’s Khusela Diko, who spoke at an economic cluster media briefing in parliament, she warned that the SABC is “at risk of collapse” as it waits for an updated funding model.

“As we stand here today, Sentech – which has the SABC as its main client – is bleeding more than R70-million/month to subsidise SABC’s broadcast signalling costs. This is unsustainable, yet the SABC Bill, which is essential to ensuring sustainability, remains stalled in this parliament,” said Diko.

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Tags: broadcast, SABC, south africa