History
SABC began airing test cards in early 1975 on its transmitters[2] and started trialling its first television service on 5 May 1975 in South Africa's largest cities, and officially launched its first television channel on 6 January 1976 under the name SABC Television/SAUK-Televisie. The launch of SABC TV caused South Africa to become the last country in the industrialised world to introduce television and had a viewership base of one million. As with other countries, the launch of television had negative effects in other sectors of the country's entertainment industry, especially cinemas. Within the corporation, SABC's regional radio stations would suffer from loss of listeners to the new television network, but Radio 5's playlists remained unchanged.[3]
The service opened at 6pm with a bilingual opening speech presented by Heinrich Maritz (Afrikaans) and Dorianne Berry (English), the culmination of a five-year project. The first programme seen wass a special presentation from the Children's and Youth division, in Afrikaans, which presented Haas Kas and other characters produced by the unit. The English-language The Everywhere Express, which had been shown in the test service the previous year, was also introductory in nature.[4]
The official opening of the service was at 8pm with a speech from Prime Minister John Voorster.[4]
As of 1977, the SABC TV service was delivered over eighteen transmitters:
- Alverstone-Durban-Pinetown: channel 4[5]
- Bloemfontein: channel 9[5]
- Cape Town: channel 8[5]
- Davel-Bethal-Ermelo: channel 22 (UHF)[5]
- East London: channel 9[5]
- George Mosselbay: channel 5[5]
- Glencoe-Dundee: channel 27 (UHF)[5]
- Hartbeesfontein-Klerksdorp: channel 45 (UHF)[5]
- Johannesburg: channel 13[5]
- Kimberley: channel 4[5]
- Kroonstad: channel 57 (UHF)[5]
- Middelburg-Witbank: channel 41 (UHF)[5]
- Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage: channel 7[5]
- Port Shepstone-Margate: channel 8[5]
- Pretoria: channel 5[5]
- Theunissen: channel 5[5]
- Villiersdorp: channel 7[5]
- Welverdiend-Potchefstroom: channel 7[5]
Two years after launch, a weekly newspaper called the service "prissy and pricey": "prissy" due to the strict moral standards of the SABC and "pricey" due to the high costs of both buying a television set and paying the licence fee. The introduction of television advertising would at the time threaten advertisers in newspapers. The schedule lasted for five hours (6pm to 11pm, earlier closing on Sunday nights) with a few hours of sports on Saturdays. On a technical level, the SABC claimed to have the highest standards, but not at programming level. The service was also touted as a propaganda vehicle for the then-ruling National Party.[6]
By 1979, the broadcasts were picked up by 80% of the white population and 42% of the black population.[4]
On 1 January 1982, two television channels were introduced: TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a Black urban audience and broadcasting on the same television frequency.[7] The main network, now called TV1, divided its broadcasting languages evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. In 1986, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, also timesharing with TV2 and TV3 on the same frequency, which stopped broadcasting at 9:30pm.[8]
In 1991, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were merged into a new full-fledged network, CCV (Contemporary Community Values).[9] A separate network was introduced, TopSport Surplus (TSS), with TopSport being the brand name for the SABC's sport coverage. However, it was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an educational non-commercial channel in 1994.[10]
In 1994, with post-Apartheid democratisation, it was suggested that TV1 should broadcast entirely in English.[11]
In 1996, the SABC reorganised its three TV networks with the aim of making them more representative of the various language groups.[12] These were renamed to SABC 1 (formerly TV1), SABC 2 (formerly CCV) and SABC 3 (formerly NNTV). The amount of time allocated to Afrikaans-language programming on the new channel (SABC 2) fell from 50% to 15% - a move that alienated Afrikaans speakers. A spokesman for the SABC said that such a reduction was "inevitable in the post apartheid era", and that the SABC had not abided to the IBA's recommendations.[12]
Under the new format, 40% of SABC 2's schedule was in English, with the remaining 60% given to the other languages.[12] The new service catered at Afrikaans and Sotho speakers during prime time, all-day language breakdown was as of the time of the change: 41% English, 15% Afrikaans, 8% Sepedi, 6% Sesotho, 8% Setswana and 1% each for Xitsonga and Tshivenda. 21% of its programming was multilingual.[12]
For 2002, the channel was committed to be "the voice, the heart and the mind of South Africans", owing to its broadcast footprint - the largest out of any SABC terrestrial network. Aiming at increasing its audiences in the Black and Afrikaans sectors, the channel sought to increase its local offering, reflecting individual South African cultures and communities. Three new projects were being developed, The Res, Dark City and Zero Tolerance. 7de Laan increased its number of weekly episodes to four, while Muvhango was planned to enter its third season in April that year.[13]
Programming
After the SABC restructured its television channels, SABC 2 took the place of the old TV1 channel. The reduced prominence of Afrikaans angered many speakers of the language, although the channel still features a significant amount of Afrikaans programming, including a news broadcast every week night at 19:00 and weekends at 18:00.
M-Net seeing the market need, launched the Afrikaans subscription channel KykNet in 1999 and followed in 2005 with the music channel MK (originally known as MK89.) In 2009, M-Net launched Koowee, a kids channel broadcasting in Afrikaans.
Soapies, dramas and telenovelas
The channel is popular for its two longest-running soapies 7de Laan and Muvhango, dramas such as Erfsonders, Gerramtes in die Kas, Roer Jouy Voete and 90 Plein Street, and Telenovelas such as Keeping Score, Giyani: Land of Blood and Die Senturm.
Series
SABC 2 has in the past, broadcast international series such as NCIS, Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries. However, the channel is currently focused on local reality and actuality series such as Speak Out, Relate, and Saving Our Marriage, comedies such as Ga Re Dumele and Ke Ba Bolleletse, and a few international series such as American Ninja Warrior.
Talk and magazine
The channel has a small number of talk, travel and magazine shows. Shows include Motswako, Vusaseki, Nhlalala ya Rixaka, 50/50, Voetspore and TalkAbility.
Music
SABC 2 plays local afro-soul and pop music interludes in between shows. It also has music shows such as Afro Cafè, Soul'd Out Sessions, Kliphard, Musiek Roulette and Noot vir Noot.
Religion
The channel has religious shows aimed at Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. Local shows include longest running show It's Gospel Time, Gospel Classics, Psalted ["Simcha"], Derech Erets, and Issues of Faith.
Sports
SABC 2 rarely broadcasts live sports due to funding issues, and instead focuses on sporting highlights. It is mostly focused on boxing, rugby, swimming and athletics.
News and current affairs
The channel provides three primetime bulletins for the TshiVenda/xiTsonga, Afrikaans, and Sotho/Setswana/Sepedi languages. In addition, it has current affairs programmes including Fokus, Ngula Ya Vutivi, Zwa Maramani and Leihlo La Sechaba. It also airs the longest-running breakfast show Morning Live. It is known for national events such as presidential inaugurations, State of the Nation Address, Budget Speeches, and parliamentary events.
Movies
The channel is known for family-friendly and dramatic movies, autobiographies and animated movies.
Youth and education
SABC 2 has a roster of shows from its SABC Education slate, most notably Takalani Sesame, It's For Life, The Epic Hangout,among others, and also brings educational shows on how to manage money and a focus on senior citizens, as well as other children's shows from Disney Junior, either in their original English soundtrack or dubbed in South African languages, such as The Lion Guard in isiZulu, Ben 10 in Afrikaans and Doc McStuffins in Sotho. For teens and preteens it offers comedy series from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, such as ICarly, True Jackson, VP, A.N.T. Farm, Sanjay and Craig, The Sparticle Mystery, Star Falls and Cookabout, as well as local series including Signal High, Snake Park and Hectic Nine-9. Content that is most watched among the youth is the 17:00 slot, for airing anime series from Toei Animation, Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, notably airing popular series that have a cult following such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Beyblade, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball SUPER, Naruto Shippuden, One Piece and Bleach.
South Africa
