SABC replacing TV licences in South Africa

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) wants to do away with its TV licence funding model amid high levels of non-payment, contributing to its financial challenges.

Discussions are ongoing between the broadcaster and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies on what funding model will replace the TV licences, with several options on the table.

Over one million TV licence numbers in South Africa are linked to non-payment, with a recorded evasion rate of 85% as of the 2024/2025 financial year.

According to an April report from the Auditor-General of South Africa, 73% of unpaid licence numbers were linked to government entities and officials.

The Department of Communications previously said that gazetting the revised bill, including the revised funding model, would represent critical policy reform.

It is expected that the funding model replacing TV licence fees will inform the final version of the revised draft SABC Bill, which will be submitted in the 2027/28 financial year.

Communications minister Solly Malatsi announced in May that the funding model study had been completed and that steps were being taken to choose a way forward.

Several potential alternatives were pitched in the publicly available portion of a preliminary report from BMIT, a local research institute contracted to conduct the funding model study.

BMIT managing director Chris Geerdts presented preliminary findings from the study in a closed meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies.

He explained that the SABC would require a mix of commercial revenue sources and public funding to fulfil its mandate sustainably and maintain commercial operations.

BMIT considered various household fees, an individual levy, government grants, “innovative options,” and even a hypothetical scenario where the SABC did not receive any tax funding.

It also considered different collection agency options to address the high evasion rate of TV licence payments amid a surge in content piracy in the country.

One proposal would make municipalities, utilities, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) responsible for collecting SABC fees from the public, rather than the broadcaster itself.

For commercial funding avenues, BMIT indicated that advertising, sponsorships, IP licensing and even subscription models were the top proposed funding sources.

Geerdts said that loosening regulations on certain public mandate quotas could also help manage costs for the embattled state entity, which posted a net loss of R253.3 million in the 2024/2025 financial year.

That would enable the broadcaster to commission and license content more easily, remain competitive, and gain access to grant funding to promote local content.

The SABC recently revealed that it would receive R234 million annually over the next three years from the Department of Communications to fund the production of its public service mandate content.

The broadcaster told MyBroadband that the majority of this programming would be educational and children’s content.

However, the SABC said that the R704 million would not be sufficient to deliver on its public service mandate.

Instead, the broadcaster said it must generate R1.766 billion in revenue from the remaining mandated content production without government funding.

Previously, TV licence fees helped fund the SABC’s mandated content, but since most South African households have stopped paying, the SABC must cover this shortfall with commercial funding.

“The government allocation is currently not sufficient, and so commercial revenue must cover public service mandate content,” it explained.

“The SABC has consistently maintained that the full cost of delivering on its public service and constitutional mandate requires an appropriately funded and sustainable model over the long term.”