TV programmes are being rescheduled in an attempt to win back advertisers and viewers, reportGillian Farquhar and Jacquie Golding-Duffy
IN an effort to increase advertising revenue and attract viewers, the SABC’s three TV channels are rescheduling prime- time programmes, dropping most magazine productions and introducing “more entertainment-driven” television like game shows and foreign sitcoms.
The new schedules are in line with viewers’ needs as reflected by recent market research, argues the SABC, but insiders are adamant that the changes being implemented by the public broadcaster undermines its public service mandate.
One SABC staffer said local content is being chopped in favour of foreign programmes which “although cheaper will erode the public service mandate”.
Furthermore, independent producers are upset that their documentaries are being put on hold in favour of imported material when, they say, it was understood that the SABC was endeavouring to fulfil a public mandate which included upping educational content, local dramas and magazine programmes as well as local documentaries.
“We are now being forced to watch 10-minute arbitrary inserts ranging from improved policing in Britain to the country’s automobile associations,” said one staffer.
Whether the new programme schedules will please viewers remains to be seen. Meanwhile channel heads in charge of programme reshuffling are adamant that attempts will be made to retain the educational mandate of the broadcaster. However, they concede that to keep their heads above water, attempts have to be made to give the public what it wants, namely entertainment value.
Marcel Jackson, the programme manager for rescheduling on SABC1, says the main changes are an increase in the use of foreign-produced material, the repositioning of local talk shows to later time slots and the axing of some magazine programmes.
“Viewing time between 6pm and 11pm will be affected,” he said.
The biggest change mooted so far on SABC1 is the dropping of local magazine programme, Hlab’ukhangele, on Monday between 7pm and 7.30pm, Indwe/Sekunjalo on Wednesday at 7pm to 7.30pm and Amagugu/ Emagugu on Sundays at 6pm.
SABC1’s move towards using more foreign- produced dramas will see a foreign mini- series being reintroduced on Wednesday and Thursday at 9pm, says Jackson. On Sundays, a new magazine programme yet to be titled will be broadcast from 6pm to 7pm. This new programme promises to have a format along the lines of Top Billing and will probably be broadcast in English, he said.
With most magazine programmes previously produced in-house, the SABC has decided to have more of its magazine programmes commissioned to outside production houses. This is in a bid to cut costs in line with the report drafted by the US consultancy, Mckinsey. Recommendations by Mckinsey included firing 1400 staffers and saving R450-million. Local dramas currently showing will be retained, Jackson said. Another move towards upping entertainment value on SABC1 is the introduction of a double movie feature on Saturday night to run from 9pm to 10.30pm and from 10.30pm to midnight. Currently the channel runs only one Saturday night movie feature.
Local talk shows would also be retained but repositioned to run from 10pm onwards. The quantity of viewing time given to news and sport will not change, and the two-and-a- half hours of children’s programmes weekly will also remain unchanged.
Jackson said that while the move towards using more foreign-produced TV films “bodes badly for the development of the local TV film industry”, it was necessary as this was one area where substantial cost-cutting could be achieved. He also suggested that the use of local content would go up in about two years, or once the SABC was financially on its feet again.
SABC2 seems to have fewer changes in the pipeline. A spokesman for the channel said the biggest change at this stage would be the shift of the news from 9.30pm to 9pm and the rescheduling of current affairs programmes from 9.30pm onwards.
The channel is considering “revamping” some of the magazine programmes, although it was not yet decided which ones would be subject to change. All local talk shows and dramas will continue until the end of their current contracts and thereafter at least some will be replaced by foreign productions. Another area where there might be cuts is educational programming, but that would depend on the SABC receiving a bigger grant from the Education Ministry, the spokesman said.
SABC3 would be implementing the same overall strategy, but no radical changes are afoot and core prime time up to 9pm would be unchanged, according to Hannelie Bekker, acting SABC3 programme buyer and rescheduler.
The most significant changes were the shift of Business Tonight from the 10pm to 10.30pm time slot and the current affairs/actuality programmes from 9.30pm to 10pm slots.
The most prominent current affairs programme to shift is Q&A: The Nation in Conversation on Tuesdays, which also gets a new presenter, as Tim Modise takes over from Max du Preez.
Other shifts include a new sports discussion programme – On The Edge – which starts this month and Point Blank with Patricia Glyn on Wednesdays. “This would extend the entertainment viewing time by half an hour, which caters for viewer needs and should also attract more advertising,” Bekker said.
Overall, the proportion of local programming from 6pm to11pm will drop on average from 40% and 45% to 20% and 25% across all three channels. This, say insiders, is proof that the SABC is slowing moving away from its mandate as outlined by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in its Triple Inquiry Report.
Discontent is also brewing among black staffers who argue that Nguni languages are being sidelined in favour of English.