The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has embarked on a multi-pronged steaming strategy that will eventually see it launch its own streaming service.
Yesterday, the SABC and Telkom announced a partnership to launch a new streaming channel called TelkomONE,
which they said would house the public broadcaster’s free-to-air radio and TV channels. However, the the five-year partnership is not an exclusive deal. The SABC is planning it’s own “over-the-top”
or OTT service, meaning a streaming service that operates over Internet connections.
Asked during the launch event
how the partnership would affect SABC’s plans for its own streaming
service, SABC group CEO Madoda Mxakwe said: “The deal itself is not at
all impacting our plans to acquire our OTT platform.
We are still on track for that. And as everyone knows, we are in the
market already for that. But this is now our very first venture into the
OTT platform.”
TelkomONE will stream live SABC’s television
channels 1, 2, Sport and Education as well as all 19 SABC radio stations.
Telkom group CEO Sipho Maseko said: “TelkomONE
will make it possible for subscribers to pause, go back into the
programme guide (time-shift) and instantly watch a scheduled TV show
they may have missed. Telkom is making digital TV functionality
available to all.”
He said Telkom One would include additional content, such as comedy, lifestyle content and music for youth. Highlights include local
short films and new productions, such as Thesha, a visual trip into modern-day South African youth culture, experienced through the lives of two teenage friends; and Hashtag, “a fun, energetic, lighthearted family-friendly talk show” hosted by
Sophie Lichaba, Mantsoe Tsatsi, Jarred Doyle and Francois Louw.
Mxakwe
said: “Telkom was a natural partner with whom to build a new platform
for developing and disseminating South African content. The partnership
is significant in ensuring that our content, in all its
formats, reaches consumers everywhere at anytime. The SABC has a wealth
of content – both acquired and produced by local talent – that we
broadcast on our free-to-air channels. Through the new streaming
channel, we will further promote universal access to popular
SABC content for audiences and customers, in an affordable manner and
with ease of access on mobile.
“We
will also create added opportunities for our talented local producers
to showcase more of their work on a platform on which content can live
longer than on traditional media platforms. The TelkomOne
partnership is part of the SABC’s overall strategy of becoming a
competitive multichannel and multiplatform public content provider.”
The
SABC will provide its content to Telkom on a non-exclusive basis. In
exchange, the SABC will receive a carriage licence fee as well as share
in the advertising revenue generated on the TelkomONE platform.
The two parties refused to divulge the revenue projections for
“competitive” reasons, but more likely because no one knows what the
potential really is. As a public broadcaster, SABC is obliged to operate
transparently in its financial dealings.
Telkom says customers can
browse the catalogue and register for free to access on-the-house
content that has a mixture of news, inspiration and entertainment
channels (SABC audio and TV channels, Africa News, France
24, Hope Channel, SBN) or subscribe to AMP subscription packages that
include music, short films, TV series and free content, which is added
by default on registration.
The
app for the service can be downlaoded on the Android or IOS app store,
while the service can also be accessed via browser at www.telkomone.tv.
For more information, visit www.telkomone.tv.
