SABC Looking To Launch Openview Competitor

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With the government set to turnoff (and delay) the analogue signals by 31 March 2025, SABC, e.tv and several provincial stations are set to lose under 5 million consumers. In the past year, SABC and eMedia's top shows experienced a ratings dip and with these turnoffs it will be hard for these stations to generate enough ad revenue.

So the public broadcaster is looking for an investor who will help kickstart their this DTT venture as seen with eMedia Investments whose Openview services have amassed 3 million households. They are hoping to fill up those households who are set to lose their signals and also attract potential Openview and DStv consumers.

They are looking to perform a trial run with about 10,000/100,000 and depending on the demand could seek to increase the supply.

This DTT venture that will come with a once-off fee will comprise of SABC 1-3 alongside additional channels SABC Sport, SABC Education, SABC Variety and SABC Lehae and their 19 radio stations. The public broadcaster was also said to be rolling out a service tailored for SABC+ on this platform.

If anything, there's a lot of mystery with the distribution of funds from what is known this investor will fork out cash for a million decoders. With the public broadcaster technically insolvent they could be more to this deal maybe even a partnership of some sorts.

MultiChoice has several shareholders in various African markets including Zambia's ZBC that holds a 49% stake in the company. Although, there's not much details over the roles and so forth usually whoever is managing the finances is in charge so they could as well commission more content perhaps through the SABC.

This is platform which puts SABC in the top position so there's no reason why it wouldn't be an unlikely scenario. If anything, with the analogue termination set to commence at some point I don't think this new venture can grow their audience if anything perhaps create some division.

When DStv launched, there were consumers saying "I don't use the SABC" as M-Net and SuperSport existed although SABC remained dominant, there was a dip in viewers. If anything, I'm kind of curious to see if this new venture of theirs will succeed in a market where DStv, Openview and streaming take a large chunk of their potential clients.