SABC 2 is a South African free-to-air television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The channel was created in its current form on 4 February 1996, due to the restructuring of the three national SABC networks.
In August 2018, the channel started broadcasting in high definition.
History
SABC TV
South Africa was already served by some closed-circuit systems in hotels before SABC-TV started.[2] SABC began airing test cards in early 1975 on its transmitters[3] and started trialling its first television service on 5 May 1975 in South Africa's largest cities, and officially launched its first television channel on 6 January 1976 under the name SABC Television/SAUK-Televisie. The launch of SABC-TV caused South Africa to become the last country in the industrialised world to introduce television and had a viewership base of one million. Around 222,000 television sets were tuned in to the inauguration.[4] As with other countries, the launch of television had negative effects in other sectors of the country's entertainment industry, especially cinemas. Within the corporation, SABC's regional radio stations would suffer from loss of listeners to the new television network, but Radio 5's playlists remained unchanged.[5]
The service opened at 6pm with a bilingual opening speech presented by Heinrich Maritz (Afrikaans) and Dorianne Berry (English), the culmination of a five-year project. The first programme seen was a special presentation from the Children's and Youth division, in Afrikaans, which presented Haas Kas and other characters produced by the unit. The English-language The Everywhere Express, which had been shown in the test service the previous year, was also introductory in nature.[6]
The official opening of the service was at 8pm with a speech from Prime Minister John Vorster.[6] One million viewers saw its opening night, while approximately 250,000 television sets were sold in the country in the second half of 1975 alone.[7]
As of 1977, the SABC-TV service was delivered over eighteen transmitters:
Two years after launch, a South African Sunday newspaper called the service "prissy and pricey": "prissy" due to the strict moral standards of the SABC and "pricey" due to the high costs of both buying a television set and paying the licence fee. The introduction of television advertising would at the time threaten advertisers in newspapers. The schedule lasted for five hours (6pm to 11pm, earlier closing on Sunday nights) with a few hours of sports on Saturdays. On a technical level, the SABC claimed to have the highest standards, but not at programming level. The service was also touted as a propaganda vehicle for the then-ruling National Party.[9]
By 1979, the broadcasts were picked up by 80% of the white population and 42% of the black population.[6] Censorship was still recurring, a famous example included SABC TV skipping an episode of Dallas in August 1979 that featured a homosexual affair, which was deemed "too sensitive" for the conservative South African mindset of the time, infuriating fans of the series.[10]
TV1
On 31 December 1981,[6] two television channels were introduced: TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a Black urban audience and broadcasting on the same television frequency.[11] The main network, now called TV1, divided its broadcasting languages evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. The channel introduced its first non-white continuity announcer, Vivian Solomons, for its Afrikaans segments in July 1983, who was of mixed race. Because SABC did not have a separate channel for mixed race and Indian South Africans, the corporation would increase the amount of non-whites appearing on the channel, though this caused complaints from viewers due to his appearance, making up most of the nearly 40 callers who contacted the corporation upon his introduction.[12]
Around 1985, the channel started airing notorious US sitcom The Cosby Show, which, by early 1986, had moved to TV4. The justification for airing on TV1 was because, had it aired on the TV2 and TV3 networks, it would air dubbed in one of the target languages, withdrawing the notion that the humour of the series would transcend cultural norms.[13]
A sitcom comparable to All in the Family, People Like Us, had its 26 episodes taped throughout 1987, but only aired for the first time on 23 December 1989 at a late slot (10:25pm on Saturdays) in order not to offend its white audience, while the timeslot was also chosen on purpose as kids of any race were already asleep by then. One viewer accused the corporation of cowardice under the grounds that, in order to increase its white audience, the series should have been moved to a prime time slot on weekdays.[14] The series aired weeks before Nelson Mandela's speech on 11 February 1990, which was broadcast by the corporation, breaking its biases for the first time in fourteen years.[15]
The end of Apartheid caused a series of radical changes for the channel, distancing itself from its segregated past. Ethnic mixing was now possible; its morning show Good Morning South Africa now had a white man and a black woman side by side, impossible in Apartheid days.[16] In 1992, four non-whites were hired for current affairs programming and a further four for religious programmes.[17] An agreement was signed with Sky News on 21 September 1993, enabling TV1 to air the channel during off-air hours from 15 October that year, akin to sister channel CCV which already had a contract with CNN International.[18] Beginning in October 1993, the channel start airing the Future Imperfect series, in which leading and opposition political figures would face hypothetical issues. The series aired at a late time for Black viewers, 10:15pm on Thursdays, as the channel was still biased towards De Klerk, while CCV was biased towards Mandela.[19] In 1994, with post-Apartheid democratisation, it was suggested that TV1 should broadcast entirely in English,[20] by October that year, it was suggested that a model similar to the one adopted in 1996 would be suggested for two of the SABC channels, with the third channel being run for "profit and entertainment", entirely in English.[21] At this time, the channel's slogan was This one's for you! (Dié een is vir jou! in Afrikaans).[16] In July 1994, the channel started airing programmes from MTV.[22]
Starting in February 1996, following a decision made in November 1995, TV1 (under its new identity as SABC 2) would increase its English-language programming, based on the results of a demographic survey. The three channels combined would offer 65% English content during prime-time hours.[23] The SABC had planned this for one year in advance, as, in March 1995, a number of advertisers were threatening to pull their commercials from TV1 due to the cut, which would fall from 50% of the channel's weekly airtime to just 10%. TV1 was scheduled to become an all-English channel.[24]
SABC 2
In 1996, the SABC reorganised its three TV networks with the aim of making them more representative of the various language groups.[25] These were renamed SABC 3 (formerly TV1), SABC 1 (formerly CCV), and SABC 2 (formerly NNTV). The amount of time allocated to Afrikaans-language programming on the new channel (SABC 2) fell from 50% to 15% — a move that alienated Afrikaans speakers. A spokesman for the SABC said that such a reduction was "inevitable in the post-apartheid era" and that the SABC had not adhered to the IBA's recommendations.[25]
Under the new format, 40% of SABC 2's schedule was in English, with the remaining 60% given to the other languages.[25] The new service catered at Afrikaans and Sotho speakers during prime time, all-day language breakdown was as of the time of the change: 41% English, 15% Afrikaans, 8% Sepedi, 6% Sesotho, 8% Setswana and 1% each for Xitsonga and Tshivenda. 21% of its programming was multilingual.[25]
With the commercialisation of the SABC in July 1997, the channel decided to drop its loss-making breakfast show Good Morning South Africa that it had inherited from the Apartheid-era TV1.[26] In late 1997, the SABC announced that the channel would house more public service programming. On 1 December that year, SABC 2 adopted a new look.[27]
The channel signed a contract with Urban Brew Studios in July 1998 to outsource the channel's new breakfast show, am2day. The programme was supposed to debut in mid-September, but had to be delayed by another two weeks as the studios weren't ready yet.[28] In order to counter the launch of ETV, the corporation reformatted SABC 2 as a channel for educational and social issues.[29] In October 1999, it was announced that the contract with Urban Brew Studios would end at the end of the month and that am2day would be replaced by an all-new breakfast show produced within the SABC, in order to optimise its own resources.[30] Urban Brew staff criticised the decision and was the target of a slander campaign.[31] On 4 January 2000, the channel rearranged its evening news bulletins, with the Afrikaans bulletin going on air at 7pm and the Sesotho bulletin at 9pm.[32]
For 2002, the channel was committed to be "the voice, the heart and the mind of South Africans", owing to its broadcast footprint - the largest out of any SABC terrestrial network. Aiming at increasing its audiences in the Black and Afrikaans sectors, the channel sought to increase its local offering, reflecting individual South African cultures and communities. Three new projects were being developed, The Res, Dark City and Zero Tolerance. 7de Laan increased its number of weekly episodes to four, while Muvhango was planned to enter its third season in April that year.[33] The channel in April 2003 announced twelve new original shows, worth US$4 million total in budget. These formats included sitcoms, documentaries, dramas and a family game show.[34] On 11 May, it started carrying a History Channel slot per an agreement with AETN.[35]
On 1 March 2013, SABC 2 adopted its current logo. Blue is the main colour of the channel, but red, yellow and green are also used. However, at the time of rebranding, its programming was still seen as "dated"[36]
SABC 2 was initially announced to begin HD broadcasts via DStv during July 2018,[37] broadcasts started on 8 August 2018.[38][39]
Programming
After the SABC restructured its television channels, SABC 2 took the place of the old TV1 channel. The reduced prominence of Afrikaans angered many speakers of the language, although the channel still features a significant amount of Afrikaans programming, including a news broadcast every week night at 19:00 and weekends at 18:00.
M-Net seeing the market need, launched the Afrikaans subscription channel KykNet in 1999 and followed in 2005 with the music channel MK (originally known as MK89.) In 2009, M-Net launched Koowee, a kids channel broadcasting in Afrikaans.
Soapies, dramas and telenovelas
The channel is popular for its two longest-running soapies 7de Laan and Muvhango, dramas such as Erfsondes, Geraamtes in die Kas, Roer Jou Voete and 90 Plein Street, and Telenovelas such as Keeping Score, Giyani: Land of Blood and Die Sentrum.
Series
SABC 2 has in the past, broadcast international series such as NCIS, Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries. However, the channel is currently focused on local reality and actuality series such as Speak Out, Relate, and Saving Our Marriage, comedies such as Ga Re Dumele and Ke Ba Bolleletse, and a few international series such as American Ninja Warrior.
Talk and magazine
The channel has a small number of talk, travel and magazine shows. Shows include Motswako, Vusaseki, Nhlalala ya Rixaka, 50/50, Voetspore and TalkAbility.
Music
SABC 2 plays local afro-soul and pop music interludes in between shows. It also has music shows such as Afro Cafè, Soul'd Out Sessions, Kliphard, Musiek Roulette and Noot vir Noot.
Religion
The channel has religious shows aimed at Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. Local shows include longest running show It's Gospel Time, Gospel Classics, Psalted ["Simcha"], Derech Eretz, and Issues of Faith.
Sports
SABC 2 rarely broadcasts live sports due to funding issues, and instead focuses on sporting highlights. It is mostly focused on boxing, rugby, swimming and athletics. In the recent[when?] year, it has broadcast a few football matches due to a high load of football broadcasting. It broadcasts Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana and CAF Champions League matches
News and current affairs
The channel provides two primetime bulletins for the TshiVenda/xiTsonga, and Sotho/Setswana/Sepedi languages. In addition, it has current affairs programmes including Ngula Ya Vutivi, Zwa Maramani and Leihlo La Sechaba. It also airs the longest-running breakfast show Morning Live. It is known for national events such as presidential inaugurations, State of the Nation Address, Budget Speeches, and parliamentary events. On 4 March 2024, the Afrikaans bulletin has been moved to SABC 3 on Mondays to Fridays @ 20:30 and Weekends @ 18:15.
Movies
The channel is known for family-friendly and dramatic movies, autobiographies and animated movies.
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