[Submitted via press release]
SABC TO BROADCAST 24 HOUR NEWS CHANNEL ON MULTICHOICE
Johannesburg, Friday 05 July 2013 - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is pleased to announce that it has signed a multi-channel agreement with Multichoice South Africa. The main element of the agreement will be the broadcasting of the SABC’s 24-Hour News Channel.
The decision to launch the channel on this platform is in line with the public service broadcaster’s preparations for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). When the migration to DTT happens, the news channel will be broadcast on both platforms.
Mr. Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC’s Chief Operations Officer (ACOO) said “One of the key undertakings of the news channel is that it will provide an opportunity for the SABC to enhance its public service mandate and extend its focus on provincial stories and the different official languages”.
“We are very excited about this partnership with Multichoice as it will expose South African news stories to an audience not only in the country, but outside of South Africa as well. As a public service broadcaster our mandate is to entertain, inform and educate and there is no better vehicle than news and current affairs to deliver on this. We are cognisant of the fact that millions of South Africans rely on the SABC for their news and to be able to extend our reach further, can only be to the benefit of the South African public” concluded Mr. Motsoeneng.
Jimi Matthews, Acting G.E. News and Current Affairs, expressed his opinion, that events over the past few weeks once again amplified the need for a 24-hour news platform. “Without our own news channel, SABC television news is constantly having to play catch-up”.
Multichoice South Africa Group CEO, Mr. Imtiaz Patel stated that “We are delighted to conclude this agreement with the SABC as we believe it will enhance our local content offering on DStv. The news channel in particular will bring diversity to our news programming, as it will provide our audiences with different views and news from an African perspective”.
The news channel will be launched by the SABC’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Ms. Lulama Mokhobo, on 1 August 2013 where more information will be communicated.
It will be broadcast on DStv channel 404.