{"id":732275,"date":"2023-11-20T12:53:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T10:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=732275"},"modified":"2023-11-20T12:53:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T10:53:54","slug":"controversial-sabc-bill-takes-a-major-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/732275\/controversial-sabc-bill-takes-a-major-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial SABC Bill takes a major step"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies has opened the South African Broadcasting Corporation SOC LTD Bill for public comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill broadly aims to fix the ailing public broadcaster via the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To repeal the Broadcasting Act of 1999; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To regulate the continued existence of the South African Broadcasting Corporation SOC Ltd; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide for its governance; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To amend the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa Act of 2000 and the Electronic Communications Act of 2005; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide for matters connected therewith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, one of the biggest issues for the SABC &#8211; funding &#8211; remains in the air despite the organisation reporting a loss of R1.2 billion during the 2022\/23 financial year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation is so dire that Deputy Minister of Communications Phil Mapulane admitted that the SABC requested R1.5 billion in additional funding from the National Treasury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this was rejected while drafting the Medium Term Policy Budget Statement (MTPBS), Mapulane said that the department is hopeful that the 2024 budget will provide additional funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Estimates believe that over 9 million South Africans owe upwards of R44 billion in unpaid licence fees &#8211; which the SABC is unlikely to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the Bill does not detail any plans to move away from the TV license system; instead, it stipulates that the minister in charge must create a new funding model for the SABC within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Minister must, within three years after the commencement of this Act, develop a funding model framework to ensure that the majority of the Corporations\u2019 funding is sourced from the state-based funding mechanisms,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore establishing the funding model framework, (the minister must) develop a comprehensive and relevant feasibility study to inform a clear business case for the Corporation\u2019s funding model in consultation with the Minister of Finance; and consult with the Authority before the publication of the draft funding model framework for public comments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, TV licenses will remain an essential part of the SABC&#8217;s funding &#8211; or lack thereof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the minister&#8217;s funding model still a while away, the Bill states that the SABC will source funding from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any money paid to the Corporation for advertisement;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any money received by way of subscription;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any money received by way of sponsorships;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Collection of&nbsp;licence fees;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Moneys appropriated for that purpose by Parliament;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any money received by way donation; or<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Any other amounts to which the Corporation is or may become entitled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Public comments should be submitted by Friday, 15 December. Inquiries can be submitted to the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies via sabcbill@parliament.gov.za.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interested parties can also fill in this<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLScM2k8ymC1tsuiSbvIUitWg9-Dfl2kmeeKf8epPNwGxT6FyKQ\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\"> Google form<\/a> for their written submissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full bill can be seen below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SABC_BILL_AS_APPROVED_BY_CABINET_-_27_Sep_2023.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/730163\/this-is-how-much-south-africans-spend-on-movies-video-games-streaming-services-and-more\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This is how much South Africans spend on movies, video games, streaming services and more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new SABC Bill is going through the parliamentary process &#8211; despite a huge omission.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":701515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[26,667],"class_list":["post-732275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-headline","tag-sabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732337,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732275\/revisions\/732337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}