The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) profits have dropped by R200-million in the past financial year, the public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.
The decrease was from R382-million in the 2005/06 financial year to R182-million in the past year.
Presenting the results in Johannesburg, SABC chief executive Dali Mpofu ascribed the fall to investment in and upgrade of infrastructure and new technology.
The SABC made significant sacrifices in revenue last year to support investments in the corporation, he said.
Returns on these investments should be tangible in the next two years.
”In terms of revenue, we had a modest growth in the region of about 8% because of massive increase in the cost structure,” Mpofu said.
”The first 70 years of broadcasting in South Africa are ancient history. We are entering into a completely new ball game.”
Massive investment needed to be made in technology.
A total of 77% of the corporation’s current funding came from advertising, 18% from licence fees, 2% from the state and 3% from other sources.
Mpofu said: ”It’s a serious situation and I don’t think that our government actually appreciates the seriousness of that situation, [that is] the risks that are involved in having a public broadcaster that is overly-dependent on commercial advertising.” — Sapa