Cape Town – Minister of Communications Roy Padayachie has announced exciting times for the public and business alike as the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is set to migrate from analogue to digital in the next two years.
With this move, the minister said that more local content producers were going to be needed to drive the broadcaster as “content generation is the business of the future.”
The minister made the announcement to the media following his Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday.
The technology will bridge the gap between rural and urban areas, he said.
During his budget vote debate, he said all political parties had agreed on the importance of the SABC and its role in communicating to the people.
“Technology can only work when it serves the needs of the people,” he said.
While the public broadcaster still used the analogue format and offered three channels, Padayachie said with the digital evolution, the station would have multiple channels.
He said a review programme would kick start urgently, with the primary view of looking at the digital age and how things could be improved.
The minister called for better ways of funding the public broadcaster.
“We will in the coming three weeks launch the Broadcasting Review Process. This process will … inform the interventions to be implemented in order to position the public broadcaster in the new digital environment.
“We will also use this opportunity to investigate an appropriate funding model for the SABC to ensure that the provision of public service remains the SABC’s main priority,” said Padayachie. – Francis Hweshe, BuaNews
