SABC losses widen
October 7, 2025
By Chris Forrester
South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC reported greater losses for 2025, and is complaining about government’s delay in creating a new funding model.
According to SABC’s annual report, losses for the year rose by 28 per cent to R253-million (€12.6m), compared with the R198-million loss it reported in 2024.
“It has been clear for some time now that the current licence fee regime no longer has the legitimacy or relevance to South Africans and, in line with shifts globally, needs to be replaced by sustainable and equitable and sustained revenue streams,” commented SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli.
“The challenge is that the SABC cannot fully control or innovate its business model independently. For us to change the licence fee amount and to shift to other sources of revenue requires both a new, innovative funding model and changes to the applicable legislation and regulations to make such a shift a reality,” the CEO added.
He also said that the withdrawal of the SABC reconstruction Bill by communications minister Solly Malatsi last November was “well-intentioned” but has had the adverse consequence of delaying the legislative and regulatory reforms “essential to the ongoing survival and financial sustainability of the SABC.”
In July last year SABC relaunched its SABC Plus streaming platform. According to the report, SABC Plus now has more than 800 000 registered users although the number of monthly active users was not disclosed.
At 54 per cent, advertising remains the largest contributor to the SABC’s revenues, with the R2.8-billion collected in 2025 representing a 1.9 per cent fall from the previous year. Although total revenue rose 1.3 per cent to R5.1-billion, sponsorship revenue fell by 8 per cent year on year to R758-million. Revenue from TV licence fee collections rose 10.4 per cent, also to R758-million.
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