Editing SABC (section)

==Company history==
===Early years===
Radio broadcasting in [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] began in 1923, under the auspices of [[South African Railways]], before three radio services were licensed: the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies (AS&TS) in [[Johannesburg]], the Cape Peninsular Publicity Association in [[Cape Town]] and the Durban Corporation, which began broadcasting in 1924.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sJh4ziYPoksC&dq=%22African+Broadcasting+Company%22+formed+in+1927%2C&pg=PA114 ''Culture and Customs of South Africa''], Funso S. Afọlayan, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, pages 114–115</ref>

These merged into the African Broadcasting Company in 1927, owned by [[I.W. Schlesinger]], a wealthy businessman, but on 1 August 1936, they were sold to the SABC, established that year through an Act of [[Parliament of South Africa|Parliament]].<ref name="duplessis">[https://books.google.com/books?id=dU2Yz3u9lMoC&pg=PA89 ''Introduction to Public Relations and Advertising''], D F du Plessis,
Juta and Company Ltd, 2000 p. 89</ref> The SABC took over the African Broadcasting Company's staff and assets. It maintained a state monopoly on radio until the launch in December 1979 of Capital Radio 604, then [[Radio 702]] in 1980.<ref name="louw">[https://books.google.com/books?id=r8poAAAAIAAJ ''South African media policy: debates of the 1990s''], P. Eric Louw, Anthroppos, 1993, p. 99</ref> Although the subscription-funded television service [[M-Net]] launched in 1986, the SABC had a monopoly on free-to-air television until the launch of [[e.tv]] in 1998.

During [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] rule from 1948, it came under increasing accusations of being biased towards the ruling party. At one time most of its senior management were members of the [[Broederbond]], the [[Afrikaner]] [[secret society]] and later from institutions like [[Stellenbosch University]].

The SABC was a radio service until the introduction of television in 1976. There were three main SABC radio stations: the [[SAfm|English Service]] (later known as Radio South Africa), the [[Radio Sonder Grense|Afrikaans Service]] (later known as Radio Suid-Afrika and Afrikaans Stereo) and the commercial station, [[Springbok Radio]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0lQOAQAAMAAJ ''Africa Institute Bulletin'', Volume 11], 1973, p. 155</ref>

Programmes on the [[South African English|English]] and [[Afrikaans]] services mainly consisted of news; plays such as ''[[The Forsyte Saga]]'', ''Story of an African Farm'', and ''The Summons'', written and produced in [[South Africa]]; serious talk shows; BBC radio shows; children's programmes, such as ''Sound Box''; and light music featuring [[South Africa]]n orchestras, arrangers, musicians and singers. Accomplished musicians such as pianist and composer [[Charles Segal (pianist)|Charles Segal]] featured on all three stations regularly in shows like ''Piano Playtime''. Accordionist [[Nico Carstens]] was a regular on the Afrikaans programmes.<ref name="charlessegal">{{cite web|url=http://www.charlessegal.com/discography.html|website=charlessegal.com|title=Charles Segal Music – Discography |access-date=18 May 2018}}</ref>

=== Recent history ===
[[File:SABC Sea Point.JPG|thumb|SABC offices in [[Sea Point, Cape Town]]]]
An IBA report on the state of the broadcasting industry in South Africa was released on 29 August 1995. Recommendations were given for the SABC to lose one of its three television channels, with the network being used for private television, demanding the creation of two or three private networks. The broadcaster would be restructured, and [[Sentech]] would be separated. Other recommendations included the sale of seven radio stations, while being granted eleven radio stations, nine of which in individual Bantu languages, provisions of an hour a day of regional programming windows on television and radio, at an estimated cost of 262 million rand/year, reintroduction of a third channel but on satellite television and the provision of an "education and information driven service" to the subcontinental region.<ref>"Relaunching the SABC", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 7, October-November 1995</ref> 

All of the channels were set to be rebranded by March 1996, in line with a restructuring that began in the 1993 CODESA talks. Preliminary changes were set to take place in 1993, but were delayed after the elections in April 1994.<ref>"More job losses, all channels rebranded", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 7, October-November 1995</ref>

In November 1995, Africa Monitor reported that the SABC was in talks with [[Channel 4]] to deliver its television channels by satellite, to cover the entire population. Up until then, it was believed that a quarter of the national population received at least one of the three channels. By January 1996 a fourth channel carrying Channel 4's programmes was set to begin, and would convert to digital in July 1996, with the aim of creating an eight-channel pay-TV service.<ref>"SABC/Channel 4 satellite TV venture", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 8, January-February 1996</ref>

At the end of 1995, the SABC lost its contract with Sky News. Footage on news bulletins broadcast by the corporation's television channels was now supplied by BBC World.<ref>"Sky loses news slot to BBC", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 8, January-February 1996</ref>

On 4 February 1996, two years after the ANC came to power, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels, so as to be more representative of different language groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Leaper |first=Norm |title=Ahh … the Pitfalls of International Communication |journal=Communication World |volume=13 |issue= 6 |pages=58–60 |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=International Association of Business Communicators |date=June–July 1996 |url=http://www.iabc.com/cw/ |oclc=107299423 |access-date=14 March 2013}}</ref> The repositioning of the networks gave the SABC's television service the chance to be "the new voice and the new vision of the [[rainbow nation]]". Under the new structure, SABC TV was compared to a "[[tower of Babel]]" regarding SABC 1 and SABC 2's programming structure, in the eleven official languages, while SABC 3 was all in English. The relaunch party was also heavily criticised by some, such as [[Angela Van Schalkwyk]], who mentioned that an American face presented the new television offer.<ref name="123SABC">"1, 2, 3, SABC!", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 9, April-June 1996</ref> This resulted in the downgrading of [[Afrikaans]] by reducing its airtime from 50% to 15%, a move that alienated many Afrikaans speakers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Louw |first1=Eric |last2=Mersham |first2=Gary |title=Packing for Perth: The Growth of a Southern African Diaspora |journal=Asian and Pacific Migration Journal |volume=10 |issue= 2 |year=2001 |pages=303–33 |url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:11195/louw2.pdf|doi=10.1177/011719680101000204|s2cid=153693948 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027175821/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:11195/louw2.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Starting July 1997, the corporation was commercialised.<ref>[https://mg.co.za/article/1997-06-20-sabcs-radical-changes/ SABC's radical changes]</ref>

In late 1998, the SABC finally started broadcasting its channels on [[DStv]], per an agreement with [[Sentech]] to convert its channels to digital. The agreement encompassed its three national terrestrial networks, Bop TV and its thirteen radio stations, with the hopes of starting two pan-continental television networks, an entertainment channel and a news channel.<ref>"SABC bites the bullet and goes digital", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 19, November 1998-January 1999</ref>

The launch of [[e.tv]] prompted the SABC to restructure its three television channels in late September 1998. The strategies were due to e.tv's promise that the service would be a "full-spectrum" channel as opposed to the niche programming of both the SABC and M-Net. SABC 1 repositioned itself as an entertainment channel for South African youth and young adults, SABC 2 would carry content related to educational and social issues from the rest of Africa to South African audiences, SABC 3 concentrated on a mix of news, current affairs and entertainment.<ref>"SABC TV restructures to meet competition", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 19, November 1998-January 1999</ref> Two satellite channels, available on DStv, opened on 16 November 1998, SABC Africa and Best of Africa (later renamed Africa2Africa).<ref>"Finally... news channel for Africa", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 20, February-April 1999</ref>

In line with its ambitions to be "the pulse of Africa's creative spirit" (SABC's tagline at the turn of the millennium), the SABC opened up to protocols and co-operation agreements with partners such as [[URTNA]], [[Film Resource Unit|FRU]] and the [[Television Trust for the Environment]], eyeing in at the rest of Africa.<ref>"Entertainment on Best of Africa", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 20, February-April 1999</ref>

The SABC has since been accused of favouring the ruling [[African National Congress|ANC]] party, mostly in news. It remains dominant in the broadcast media.

Criticism intensified around 2003–2005, when it was accused of a wide range of shortcomings including self-censorship, lack of objectivity and selective news coverage.

On 20 October 2020, SABC and the government were in discussion to get TV and streaming providers in South Africa to collect TV licence on their behalf.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news24.com/channel/tv/news/da-starts-petition-against-sabc-tv-licence-plan-for-netflix-dstv-20201214|title=DA starts petition against SABC TV licence plan for Netflix, DStv |first=Thinus|last=Ferreira|website=News24|date=14 December 2020|access-date=4 February 2021}}</ref>

On 27 March 2021, SABC and eMedia Investments expanded their partnership which allowed [[OVHD|OpenView]] customers to receive 3 additional channels as well as their 19 radio stations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sabc.co.za/sabc/sabc-and-openview-sign-a-new-channel-carriage-agreement/|title=SABC AND OPENVIEW SIGN A NEW CHANNEL-CARRIAGE AGREEMENT – SABC – Official Website|accessdate=28 February 2023}}</ref>

===Leaders===
Director General of the SABC:

{| class="sortable wikitable" 
! align=center | Surname
! align=center | Name
! align=center | From
! align=center | To
|-
| Caprara
| René Silvio
| 1936
| 1948
|-
| Roos
| Gideon Daniel
| 1948
| 1959
|-
| [[Pieter Johannes Meyer|Meyer]]
| Pieter Johannes
| 1959
| 1980
|-
| de Villiers
| Steve
| 1980
| 1983
|-
| Eksteen
| Riaan
| 1983
| 1988
|-
|Harmse
| Wynand
| 1988
| 1994
|}
Chairman of the SABC Board:

{| class="sortable wikitable" 
! align=center | Surname
! align=center | Name
! align=center | From
! align=center | To
|-
| Matsepe-Casaburri 
| Ivy Florence 
|1994
| 1996
|-
| Zulu
| Paulus
| 1996
| 2000
|-
| Maphai
| Thabane Vincent 
| 2000
| 2003
|-
|  Funde 
| Sonwabo Eddie 
| 2003
| 2008
|-
|Mkhonza
| Khanyi 
|2008
| 2009
|-
|Charnley 
|Irene
|2009
|2009
|- 
| Ngubane 
| Baldwin Sipho 
| 2010
| 2013
|-
| Tshabalala 
| Zandile Ellen
| 2013
| 2014
|-
| Maguvhe 
| Mbulaheni Obert 
| 2014
| 2017
|-
|Makhathini
|Bongumusa Emmanuel 
| 2017
| 
|}