JOHANNESBURG -- The South African Broadcasting Corp. will spend 1 billion rand ($145 million) on local programming in the 2007-08 financial year to comply with the high local-content quotas that went into effect during the 2006-07 year.
The public broadcaster released its largest number of commissioning briefs yet -- 97 -- in December including, for the first time, briefs specifically allocated for research and development.
The increased local-content quotas set by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa -- up to 60% on SABC 1 and 2 -- have been a boost to local indie producers, forcing broadcasters to commission dedicated programming and to adjust viewing schedules to broadcast local content during primetime.
Mvuso Mbebe, head of SABC Content Enterprises, said 2006 had been a landmark year for the broadcaster as it tackled the challenge of delivering the new quotas. He acknowledged teething problems such as administrative inefficiency and payment bottlenecks to producers and thanked them for their "understanding" and delivering product on time despite this.
He said the SABC had been in discussions with the Independent Producers' Organization and the South African Screen Federation and had committed itself to signing a memorandum of understanding with the indie production sector by March. A working group has been established to discuss intellectual property rights, one of the key conflict areas of the past year.
He said none of the briefs this year had specific budgets attached, "to encourage negotiation" between producers and commissioning editors.
Other problems being addressed were insufficient delivery of content in marginalized indigenous languages and the dominance of the Gauteng region in obtaining commissions.
The aim is to develop skills -- with a training and development budget of $1.5 million -- and decentralize commissioning to producers from all regions of the country.
Mbebe said African content also would be broadened. The SABC is, for example, partnering with 44 African broadcasters in 25 countries on an AIDS awareness program and will be involved in a co-production with 13 countries for the series "I Am An African Child," to be launched at the fifth World Summit on Media & Children in Johannesburg in March.
In terms of black economic empowerment, the broadcaster was complying with legislation, he said: Of the 74 production companies commissioned in 2006, 54 were 100% black-owned.
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