MEANWHILE, IN OTHER SABC NEWS…

LAST year’s indecision over whether SABC’s 24-hour news channel was going to go ahead – especially with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan telling Parliament that the business plan for the SABC’s 24-hour news channel has not been approved – is over.

SABC News went live on Thursday, August 1, pipping Africa News Network7’s (ANN7) subsequent announcement about also going on air from next Wednesday.

With SABC’s financial crisis now over, the broadcaster – an institution with a history of 77 years – is looking at being a key player amid ANN7 and front runner eNews Channel Africa (eNCA), which got a head start in June 2008, and looking at becoming a tour de force as a news provider.

While the channel got President Jacob Zuma’s stamp of approval, so to speak, as he officially opened the channel as the first guest, little is known about the content on offer and the anchors.

What has been divulged to the media by Hlaudi Motsoeneng, SABC’s acting chief operating officer, is that provincial stories and the various official languages are part of the public service mandate of the channel. But English will be the predominant language, with the others phased in.

Although the technical aspects have been discussed – to mindboggling confusion for the layman still trying to get his or her head around the migration from analogue to digital – it would be nice to get a holistic perspective of what SABC News has to offer in content that will make viewers either shift their loyalty from Sky News or Al Jazeera and keep them from tuning in to its home-grown rival networks.

Unfortunately, Kaizer Kganyago, SABC Group Communications head, was not available for further clarity on this milestone.

SABC News is on DStv Channel 404.