Janet Smith
No razzmatazz accompanied SABC1’s repositioning this week, and nobody at the channel would say they’d had the decorators in, but new branding has definitely blown away the old Simunye.
Gone are the gaudy retro colours of the studio set as glossy imaging spins onto screen. Gone are the cheesy mimes before and after ad breaks. It is full frontal focus on the presenters.
As of December 1, the channel is primed to be the television of choice for younger viewers, with plans to gradually discard serious dramas, miniseries and documentaries in favour of programming that better suits the party lifestyle of urban young South Africans.
SABC1’s repositioning complements the new definition of SABC2 and SABC3.
SABC2 is set to become the public service channel: a source of entertainment that celebrates family values and issues of community and national importance. SABC3, which had its transmitter network expanded in parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu- Natal, the North West and Northern Province this week, is expected to enhance its reputation as the channel for viewers with substantial car allowances, DStv and a place on the Sunday morning Harley Davidson run.
SABC1 will be for the bash generation, SABC2 for the marrieds with children and SABC3 for the liberated elite, offering advertisers a well-defined market and appealing to the audience to identify with the national broadcaster’s goal of reflecting us as we see ourselves.
SABC1 has just acquired a new general manager in Eric Nhlapo, a BSc graduate and former SABC producer and executive producer who was brought back into broadcasting from a senior position at Gencor.
SABC3, meanwhile, has acquired the services of internal human resources specialist Theo Erasmus as acting general manager for a six-month period, until the channel makes a permanent appointment in the absence of Louis Raubenheimer, who is now in charge of the SABC’s millenium project.
Erasmus has just completed a six-month stint at SABC1 where he was that channel’s acting general manager after former channel head Molefe Mokgatle was promoted to the position of TV boss. These appointments are important in the long haul towards a new generation of management at the SABC.
The team behind SABC1’s new imaging is not new, but they say the energy spawned by the channel’s good figures and committed audience is a boost. That team, led by on- air manager Keith Pfeiffer and divisional creative director and extravaganza supremo Ken Kirsten, has taken a brave shot by dumping the autocue and allowing presenters to ad lib.
They’ve lost three – Renee Avinir is pregnant, Sharon Howson is planning to move into marketing and Brett Leemans’s contract has not been renewed – and gained three in popular TV star Cobus Gauche, Graham Hopkins and newcomer Thembi Mgangashe.