Thursday, July 12, 2007

SABC International to launch news channel next week


The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will officially launch its African news channel, aimed at providing an African perspective on domestic and international stories, on 20 July 2007. The Pan-African channel soft-launched on 7 June to test the reception in the market.
SABC News International will replace the SABC Africa overnight feed on SABC 2. It will initially broadcast weekdays only. As from April 2008, it will have a full 24-hour schedule.

Initially, the channel will be broadcast via Sentech’s Vivid Satellite Digital Decoder which currently broadcasts to sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Europe. In addition to news bulletins, the channel will feature current affairs and investigative programmes, including news magazine shows which will incorporate broader content such as weather, sports, and economic news and studio interviews. The channel will also include French news bulletins which are currently streamed live on the SABC News website.

Dr Snuki Zikalala, SABC group executive for news and current affairs, reports that there is already considerable interest from African, American and European broadcasters in carrying the channel.
(Source: BizCommunity.com/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)