South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, has announced that it intends to launch an international, satellite-delivered news channel to Africa. Again.
Over the last two years, SABC has been planning a foray into international TV, with SABC Africa as the brand, drawing on resources from the Corporation – Africa’s largest broadcaster – but also with contributions from other channels. SABC Africa didn’t get off the ground partly, says SABC news and current affairs chief Snuki Zikalala (pictured), because of the reliance on other organisations’ bureaux to provide much of the news.
SABC International plans to do things differently this time. The SABC has been developing its own news bureaux across Africa and in Europe and other strategic locations to bolster its newsgathering capabilities. With these in place, SABC International can launch and it’s set for next year, although there will be a trial in June.
SABC International will have to compete with Al Jazeera English, BBC World, CNN International, France 24 and other global news channels that are focusing on developing African distribution. At the same time, Kenya-based news agency chief Salim Amin is fast developing a commercially-funded pan-African news channel.
There is much going on out there.