Although economically the most advanced country on the continent, South Africa was among the last countries in Africa to introduce television. A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...

Controversy over introduction of TV

The reason for television's late arrival in South Africa was ideological, as the white minority regime saw it as a threat to its control of the broadcasting media, even though the state-controlled South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had a virtual monopoly on radio broadcasting. It also saw the new medium as a threat to Afrikaans, and to the Afrikaner volk, giving undue prominence to English, and creating unfair competition for the Afrikaans press. SABC logo The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the state owned broadcaster in South Africa, and was for many years the monopoly, controlled by the white minority National Party government. ... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

The National Party's Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Dr Albert Hertzog, said that TV would come to South Africa 'over my dead body', also denouncing it as 'a miniature bioscope [cinema] over which parents would have no control', while the influential Dutch Reformed Church, saw the new medium as degenerate and immoral. The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) (with its members sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats) was the governing party of South Africa from June 4th 1948 until May 9th 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ...

However, many white South Africans, including Afrikaners, did not share Hertzog's reactionary views, and regarded the hostility towards what he called 'the little black box' as absurd and embarrassing. When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969, South Africa was one of the few countries unable to watch the event live. Other (less economically advanced) countries in Africa had already introduced it, while neighbouring Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, had introduced television in 1961, with the financial backing of some South African private investors. Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American astronaut, test pilot, and naval aviator famous as the first human ever to step foot on the Moon. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

The introduction of TV in 1976

In 1971, the SABC was finally allowed to introduce a television service, which began experimental broadcasts in the main cities in mid-1975, before the service went nationwide at the beginning of 1976. In common with most of Western Europe, South Africa used the PAL system for colour television. Initially, the TV service was funded entirely through a licence fee, as in the UK, but advertising began in 1978. 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1976 calendar). ... A television licence is an official licence required in some countries for all owners of a television receiver. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

When South African television launched, it was only the second terrestrial TV service in Africa to launch with a colour service only, whereas all other TV stations would have started in black-and-white first, then colour later. (Zanzibar in Tanzania was the first territory in Africa to have done so, in 1973.) The Government, advised by SABC technicians, took the view that colour television would have to be available so as to avoid a costly change from black-and-white. Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ... Color is an important part of the visual arts. ... Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar (IPA pronunciation: ), as used today, is the collective name for two East African islands off mainland Tanzania: Unguja (also called Zanzibar) and Pemba. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

The service only broadcast in English and Afrikaans, with an emphasis on religious programming on Sundays. Owing to South Africa's apartheid policies, the British actors' union Equity started a boycott of programme sales to South Africa, meaning that most acquired programming came from the United States. However, the British police drama series The Sweeney was briefly shown on SABC, but dubbed in Afrikaans. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

In 1981, a second channel was introduced, broadcasting in African languages such as Zulu, Xhosa Sotho and Tswana. The main channel, now called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans. Subtitling on TV was almost non-existent, the assumption being that people had no desire to watch programmes in languages they did not speak. 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Zulu are an African ethnic group of about 11 million people who live mainly in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. ... The Xhosa people are a group of peoples of Bantu origins living in south-east South Africa. ... The Sotho-speaking people have lived in southern Africa since around 15th century. ... Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. ...

In 1986, the SABC's monopoly on TV was challenged by the launch of a subscription-based service known as M-Net, backed by a consortium of newspaper publishers. However, it could not broadcast its own news and current affairs programmes, which were still the preserve of the SABC. As the state-controlled broadcaster, the SABC was accused of bias towards the apartheid regime. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by a consortium of newspaper companies. ...

Local programming

While US programming has dominated South African TV airtime, there are now many locally produced programmes which are exported across Africa. For example, M-Net's soap opera Egoli: Place of Gold, has been exported to 43 African countries [1]. The drama series Shaka Zulu, based on the true story of the Zulu warrior King Shaka, was shown around the world in the 1980s, but this was only possible because the SABC had licensed the series to a US distributor. The Zulu-language comedy 'Sgudi 'Snaysi achieved SABC's highest viewing figures in the late 1980s, and was shown in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by a consortium of newspaper companies. ... Only known drawing of Shaka - some details like the spear and feather may be fanciful Shaka (sometimes spelled Tshaka, Tchaka or Chaka; ca. ... Sgudi Snaysi is a long-running South African Zulu language television comedy series. ...

Imported programming

Owing to the British Equity boycott, and a similar boycott by Australia, South African TV has been dominated by programming from the United States, and it was only after the end of apartheid that the boycott was lifted, and non-US programming became available.

The availability of US programming was partly the result of a co-operative venture with Universal Studios in 1980 where an episode of 'Knight Rider' was filmed in the Namib desert in South West Africa (today Namibia), and local acting talent was involved in the filming. As a direct consequence, the SABC received the right to broadcast in American programming syndicated from Universal Studios/MCA, and through them purchased material from other studios. Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to open image `/mnt/upload3/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Universal_logo. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Knight Rider was a popular United States television show that ran between September 26, 1982 and August 8, 1986. ... Dune 7, the highest sand dune in the world (ca. ... South-West Africa is the former name (1884-1990) of Namibia under German (as German South-West Africa, Deutsch Süd-West Afrika) and (from 1915) South African administration when it was conqured from the Germans during World War I. Following the war, the Treaty of Versailles declared the territory... // Common usage A syndicate is an association of people or companies. ... The Music Corporation of America was a United States based corporation in the music business. ...

Many imported programmes were dubbed into Afrikaans, the first being the British series The Sweeney, known in Afrikaans as Blitspatrolie. However, in order to accommodate English speakers, the SABC began to simulcast the original soundtrack of US series such as Miami Vice and Beverly Hills, 90210 on FM radio. This also applied to German and Dutch programmes dubbed in Afrikaans. In filmmaking, dubbing refers to the recording of voices for a movie. ... For other uses of the name Sweeney, see Sweeney The Sweeney is a British television police drama focusing on two crime-fighting members of the Flying Squad, an elite branch of the British police force specialising in armed robbery and violent crime. ... Simulcast is a contraction of simultaneous broadcast, and refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium at the same time. ... Miami Vice was a popular television series (five seasons on NBC from 1984-1989) starring Don Johnson (James Sonny Crockett) and Philip Michael Thomas (Ricardo Rico Tubbs) as two Miami police detectives working undercover. ... Beverly Hills 90210 was a popular primetime television soap opera that aired from 1990 to 2000 on the Fox Network. ...

Political change

Following the easing of media censorship under F. W. de Klerk, the SABC's news coverage moved towards being more objective, although many feared that once the African National Congress came to power, the SABC would revert to type, and serve the government of the day. However, the SABC now also carried CNN International's TV news bulletins, thereby giving South African viewers new sources of international news. F.W. de Klerk State President of South Africa 1989–1994 Vice President of South Africa 1994–1996 Frederik Willem de Klerk (born March 18, 1936) was the last State President of Apartheid South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. ... The African National Congress (ANC) is a centre-left political party, and has been South Africas governing party supported by a tripartite alliance between itself, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) since the establishment of majority rule in May 1994. ... The Cable News Network, usually referred to as CNN, is a cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner[1] [2]. It is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, owned by Time Warner. ...

In 1996, two years after the ANC came to power, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels, so as to be more representative of different language groups. This resulted in the downgrading of Afrikaans, which now had its airtime reduced, a move that angered many Afrikaans speakers. This might be due to the fact that the majority of licence fees are paid by English and Afrikaans speakers. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

New Services

However, the SABC's dominance was further eroded by the launch of the first 'free-to-air' private TV channel, called e.tv. Satellite television also expanded, as M-Net's parent company, Multichoice, launched its digital satellite TV service (DStv). e. ... Artists impression of a Boeing 601 satellite, as configured for digital television transmission by SES Astra Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television. ... M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by a consortium of newspaper companies. ... M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by a consortium of newspaper companies. ... DStv is MultiChoices multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995. ...

DStv offered viewers in South Africa, and elsewhere on the continent, a far greater choice of channels, including international services like CNN, MTV, BBC World, BBC Prime, Discovery Channel, Sky News and ESPN, as well as channels such as Zee TV in Indian languages and RTP Internacional in Portuguese. There were also SABC channels aimed at viewers in the rest of Africa, a business channel, Summit TV, and a music channel, called Channel O, while KykNet catered for Afrikaans speakers. The Cable News Network, usually referred to as CNN, is a cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner[1] [2]. It is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, owned by Time Warner. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... BBC World is the British Broadcasting Corporations 24-hour international current affairs TV channel with BBC News, documentaries, lifestyle programmes and interviews, and was launched in January 1995. ... BBC Prime is the BBCs general entertainment TV channel in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. ... Discovery Channel is a property of Discovery Communications primarily packaged as a network entertainment brand distributed in virtually every pay-television market in the world. ... Sky News is Europes first 24-hour television news channel, originally launched as part of the 4-channel Sky Television network in February 1989. ... ESPN (once an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. ... Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel in the Zee Network umbrella, which carries broadcasts in Hindi and Urdu. ... The article describes the languages spoken in the Republic of India. ... This article belongs in one or more categories. ... KykNet is a South African television channel, which broadcasts in Afrikaans. ...

In 2003, the New South African TV channel (NSAT) announced plans to broadcast on Sky Digital in the UK, thereby reaching the large expatriate community. It began broadcasting in 2004, but suspended broadcasts a year later. However, SABC news programming is carried on the Original Black Entertainment channel on satellite in the UK. Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcastings digital satellite television service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28. ... An expatriate (in abbreviated form expat) is someone temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of their upbringing and/or legal residence. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Recent newspaper reports indicated that Telkom, the parastatal telephone operator intended applying for a broadcast licence, to carry an IPTV service over its ADSL network, to compete with DStv. There is no cable TV service in South Africa as the low population density of the country has meant that it is not cost-effective. (The term 'cable' is wrongly used to describe M-Net's terrestrial pay-TV service). However, the second network operator in South Africa may provide such services, along with fixed-line telephony and broadband internet. Telkom is also the name of an Indonesian telecommunication company - see TELKOM Telkom is the monopoly wireline telecommunications provider in South Africa. ... It has been suggested that IP Media be merged into this article or section. ... Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional modem can provide. ... Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (and often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio waves transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional...

External links

• South African Broadcasting Corporation
• M-Net
• Multichoice DStv
• etv
• NSAT
• Why South Africa’s Television is only Twenty Years Old: Debating Civilisation, 1958-1969