1. Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications
Presentation
Presented to
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications
8 June 2004

2. Agenda Chairman’s Introduction Recap and Way Forward in FY04/05
Funding Support Required
Conclusion

3. Chairman’s Introduction (1 of 7)
Honoured and humbled, and take seriously the trust and responsibility this committee has bestowed upon the new Board
Will rely during our term of office on a sound relationship with the committee
Board has diverse, talented and knowledgeable membership where dialogue is robust, and constructive
What unites us is our common and deep commitment to continuing the development and strengthening of the SABC so it can deliver quality and innovative public broadcasting services that help build our democracy and our nation 3

4. Chairman’s Introduction (2 of 7)
Board now in its sixth month, and following briefings, dialogue and analysis with management and staff – we have been able to define our path to 2008
This path is shaped and informed by the SABC’s role and social responsibilities as firmly enshrined in the Broadcasting and IBA Acts, and expounded upon in its Editorial Policies
Moreover, a firm foundation upon which to build has been laid by the previous Board, and by management and staff, and the torch has been passed to the new Board to take the SABC forward
The challenge facing this Board is to consolidate the gains, accumulated over the last ten years, and to steer the SABC along its development path to 2008 4

5. Board Goals (1 of 3)
Ensure the SABC promotes democracy, non-racism, nation-building and empowerment through innovative programming that is informative, entertaining and educative in all official languages.
Align SABC with the Broadcasting Charter, the Corporation’s objectives as set out in the Broadcasting Act and the Editorial Policies.
To create a financially sound Corporation built on a sustainable business model within a specified timeframe that enables it to fulfil its mandate.
To revitalise the Corporation, particularly the News Department by making it a place of preferred employment and by attracting, retaining and nurturing the best available talent in the country.
Ensure full statutory and regulatory compliance by all divisions of the Broadcaster.

6. Board Goals (2 of 3)
Ensure appropriate Employment Equity and Black Economic Empowerment Policies.
Create an SABC that enjoys the support and respect of its shareholder, viewers, listeners as well as other stakeholders.
Ensure compelling, professional and authoritative news and current affairs programming that tells the South African story accurately, fairly and in a balanced way while reflecting the world in particular Africa to all South Africans in line with SABC’s Editorial Policies.
Ensure that the SABC plays a meaningful role in supporting the objectives of African Renaissance and NEPAD.
The SABC puts into place innovative technology platforms and infrastructure that will enable it to deliver on its mandate.

7. Board Goals (3 of 3)
Conduct an evaluation and monitor the extent to which the SABC’s activities are in line with the provisions of the Broadcasting Act and its editorial policies
To create a Corporation that delivers interesting, educative and dynamic programming in all of South African official languages
Sign off on policy documents that the Broadcasting Act requires. The Board must sign off within 3 months following corporatisation, where such had not been done by the previous Board.

8. GCEO’s Introduction
The role of public broadcaster to serve all citizens is as important as its ever been
Need to do this in ways that are both traditional and innovative
Driving excellence in everything we do and being relevant whilst doing so
Incremental steps
Important strides
Difficult challenges
Competitive pressures
Human resources
Funding
Infrastructure 8

9. Broad Corporate Objectives
Content:
Deliver the best content to fulfill our mandate in the most cost effective way to maximize audiences and revenues
People
Attract, develop and retain the best creative and other talent
Technology
To put in place the appropriate technology infrastructure to deliver on our objectives
Finance
To ensure effective and efficient utilisation of resources, a financially sustainable corporation, and to put into place world class systems and processes
Corporate Reputation
To be the most admired media brand in South Africa

10. Areas of Funding Support
Four Big Areas where Shareholder funding support is requested to achieve the public broadcaster’s and national objectives:
Technology Plan
Regional TV
Education
SABC Africa 10

11. Technology Division Overview (1 of 2)
The Technology Division provides broadcast and non-broadcast technology solutions, services and infrastructure for the SABC’s content Divisions
Division incorporates five business units, namely Air Time, Henley TV Facilities, Technical Liaison, Logistical Services, Engineering Services and Broadcast Information Technology and forms the infrastructure backbone to the SABC’s core business areas
This area of the business has been undercapitalized in recent years
The key challenge that faces the SABC in years to come is the migration to digital technologies, and this area constituted the main focus of the Technology Unit in FY03/04
A comprehensive technology strategy was formulated in FY02/03 11

12. Technology Division Overview (2 of 2)
The main elements of the strategy include an assessment of the current state of technology within the SABC, defining the future business and broadcast needs of the SABC in a digital era which led to the recommendation of an appropriate business architecture and technology solution
The business IT strategy identified required interventions in areas of the SABC’s core business, content sales and scheduling as well as supporting business activities namely finance, client facing business units, corporate and regulatory
The strategy recommendations were costed, a high level critical skills plan was formulated and the plan was divided into a prioritised investment in three horizons in these areas 12

13. Technology Objectives FY04/05
The key focus of the 03/04 fiscal was to commence the roll out of the technology strategy.
The strategy will be implemented in three horizons, phasing the capital expenditure according to priority areas and pragmatic implementation considerations.
Horizon one will focus on tactical, priority areas, aiming to achieve ongoing quick wins, such as the financial system and data warehousing on the business side and the introduction of digital content production solutions e.g. digital news room on the broadcasting side.
Horizon two will also focus on tactical areas, however, of a longer running nature such as redesigning broadcast content workflows, continuing the installation of middleware, scheduling systems and ERP
Horizon three will focus on technological areas of strategic importance to the SABC’s continued success in the longer term and the future goal of moving to a completely digital technological infrastructure 13

14. Technology Objectives FY04/05
The horizons are not mutually exclusive and contain numerous complex project, system and process dependencies.
The Technology Division is giving specific focus to the following high priority business and broadcast project in 03/04 and 04/05 fiscal.
Content Sales and Scheduling System
Digital News Production System
Finance and HR systems
Consolidation of online content publishing
Customer Relationship Management (TV Licence and Air Time Sales).
A request of R340M was made to the Shareholder to fund capex to support the achievement of the technology plan goals and objectives.
The new Board, as part of the budget approval process, is continuing to evaluate this strategy and has asked for a detailed funding plan to be prepared before final approvals are obtained. This will be done at the 7 July Board meeting. 14

15. Regional TV(1 of 2)
The Broadcasting Amendment Act calls for the public broadcaster to apply to the Regulator for regional TV services
Services aimed at addressing, in the main, programming needs in languages other than English
Act specifies, amongst other sources, that Government must fund the services
SABC submitted its application in December 2003
ICASA must decide whether it will grant licences
The Corporation believes these services will make an important contribution to the SABC delivering on TV in all official languages, particularly African languages

16. Regional TV (2 of 2)
However, the Broadcaster’s research, which was confirmed by the Regulator, indicates that these services will not be commercially viable
In anticipation of a favourable outcome of the licensing process the SABC would require R400M from the Shareholder to fund the launching and running of the two channels

17. Education (1 of 3)
The education mandate of the SABC stipulates that the public service provided by the Corporation must include educational programming, both curriculum-based and informal. In meeting its mandate, radio and TV programs were produced in a number of genre/areas:
Early Childhood Development
Curriculum Support
Adult and Public Education
The SABC contribution to South African public through its educational programs continue to be acknowledge and applauded nationally and internationally

18. Education (2 of 3)
In 2004 our performance on TV and radio was as follows:
During the period March 03 to January 04 over minutes of educational TV programming was broadcast in a variety of timeslots across the SABC’s terrestrial channels.
This represents an increase of 20% over the same period of the previous year. 94% of the programmes broadcast were commissioned locally
On TV, original programming was produced in several African languages.
Dubbing of local programs and foreign acquisitions into a variety of African languages ensured output in all official languages.

19. Education (3 of 3)
Radio’s output remained constant at minutes of educational programming in all official languages, broadcast across ten of the PBS radio stations. Educational radio programs comprised 100% local content
In order to achieve our way forward objectives, the public broadcaster has requested support from the shareholder in the amount of R47M

20. SABC Africa
In April 2003, the SABC merged its two pay channels; SABC Africa and Africa-2-Africa and re-launched them as a single infotainment channel on the digital DSTV platform, under the popular SABC Africa name
This merged channel also has a terrestrial window on SABC 2
SABC Africa aims to provide and project a positive and modern image of Africa and in so doing assist in promoting the ideals of NEPAD.
One of the key objectives for the year ahead is to improve programming quality
The level of investment required to do so outstrips the revenue that the channel would otherwise generate
Given the important role this channel is playing and can play to support the African Renaissance, the public broadcaster will engage the shareholder generally and specifically with regards to funding

21. Conclusion
The past year has brought much for the nation and public broadcaster to be proud
The expectations of delivery, from various stakeholders, continue to increase
The goals and objectives established for FY04/05 are aimed at achieving an even better outcome than the previous year’s.
Nonetheless, FY04/05 will bring with it a number of significant challenges.
The fundamental and perhaps overriding challenge however relates to funding
Improved delivery will be possible if there are integrated strategies and efforts within and beyond the Corporation and the appropriate funding is in place to enable it
Corporation will creatively look at PPP relationships, increasing funding from commercial sources and partnering with Government to secure necessary funds