Editing SABC 1 (section)

===As the combined TV2/TV3 network and TV4===
In 1980, the SABC announced plans to introduce a network for Black South Africans by 1982. The service was intended to broadcast for three hours on weekdays, with extended hours on weekends. Similar to [[SABC 2|SABC TV]], it would be funded through a combination of advertising revenue and government grants.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Practical-Television/70s/Television-Servicing-UK-1975-03.pdf |title=Television |date=February 1980 |accessdate=5 February 2024 |page=230 }}</ref>

On 31 December 1981, two new services were launched: TV2, which broadcast in [[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], and TV3, which broadcast in [[Sotho language|Sotho]] and [[Tswana language|Tswana]]. Both channels were aimed at an urban Black audience and operated on a [[Time-sharing|timeshared]] [[radio frequency]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJ-uCwAAQBAJ&dq=TV2+broadcasting+in+Zulu+and+Xhosa+and+TV3+broadcasting+in+Sotho+and+Tswana%2C&pg=PA222|title= 'The Press and Apartheid: Repression and Propaganda in South Africa|first1=William A. |last1=Hachten|first2= C. Anthony|last2=Giffard|publisher=Springer|year=1984|page=222|isbn= 9781349076857}}</ref> The main network, now called TV1, continued to divide its programming equally between English and Afrikaans, as it had before. Both TV2 and TV3 also included selected programmes in English, as the language remained a [[lingua franca]] for urban Black audiences and was the preferred language for many print media outlets targeting this demographic.<ref>{{cite news|title=S. Africa launches TV channel for blacks|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19811230-1.2.24.4|access-date=6 February 2024|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=30 December 1981}}</ref>

In 1985, a new service called TV4 was introduced, offering sports and entertainment programming. It utilised the same frequency as TV2 and TV3, which ceased broadcasting at 9:30 pm each evening.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcQZ1D366t8C&dq=%22TV4%22++&pg=PA68|title=Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa|first=Robert B.|last=Horwitz|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2001|page= 68|isbn=9781139428699}}</ref> By 1991, the two networks (TV2 and TV3) merged with TV4, creating TV2/3/4, adding more imported entertainment during pre-9pm hours, unbalancing the black programming.<ref>Broadcasting reforms: fine tuning apartheid, Eric Collins, Richard & Louw, 1991</ref>