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No. 37261
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24 JANUARY 2014
charter obligations. The initial licensing process was finalised in 2005. In line with the law
and policies, SABC public services have to fulfil obligations outlined in the law, while public
commercial stations and channels need to meet the requirements set for the commercial
sector by the regulator.
The Act further requires the SABC to develop a range of editorial policies taking its mandate
into account through a public process.The extent to which the SABC can fulfil all its mandate
requirements on television has been limited due to the number of channels it operates. This
will change with the migration to DTT and, for example, its ability to treat all official
languages equally on television will be enhanced.
8.7.2 Regulatory and Licensing framework of the SABC
The SABC is bound by both licence conditions and regulations set by ICASA. The White
Paper and Broadcasting Act required the SABC to apply for new licences and indicates that
the public services of the SABC must be primarily responsible for delivery on public interest
goals set in policy. Public commercial services have to comply with the legal and regulatory
standards set for privately owned commercial services while adhering to "the values of the
public broadcasting service in the provision of programmes and service". ICASA's content
regulations outline minimum requirements for public and commercial services for radio and
television.
The content regulations for television are more detailed and set minimum quotas for the
different genres of programming, as well as overall percentages for content.
TV Content Quotas
The SABC has stated in its annual reports that it has generally complied with and often
exceeded these quotas. ICASA has not held any hearings into alleged non-compliance with
these - though it should be highlighted that members of the public have raised questions
about whether or not the regulator is effectively monitoring compliance.
Licence Conditions
ICASA has set licence conditions for each radio station and television channel.They set out
the universal service requirements for each of the channels and stations.
8.7.3 Funding the public mandate
The SABC in line with policy and regulation is funded by government, licence fees,
advertising/sponsorship and other incidental income (sale of programmes etc). As noted
above, one of the reasons for the division of the SABC into public and public commercial
divisions was to protect the public mandate by allowing for cross-subsidisation of the public
wing by commercial services.
The SABC has not to date published separate accounts for the divisions, and it is thus
difficult to thoroughly review whether or not the division of the SABC has, as envisaged in
the White Paper and Broadcasting Act, enabled the cross-subsidisation of the mandate by
the commercial services.
The SABC continues to rely predominantly on commercial revenue (about 80% of its income
is from advertising and sponsorship). Licence fees contribute about 18% and government
funding about 3%. Allocations from government are approved through the parliamentary
process and have included annual funding as well as funds for specific projects (such as
elections and the migration to DTT).
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