South African public-service broadcaster the SABC will substantially scale back its channel plans for the long-delayed commercial start of the country’s switch from analogue to digital broadcasting, with SABC Sport one of the casualties.
SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng said the broadcaster will now launch with only five channels under the scheme, having initially told parliament in September 2011 that its digital terrestrial television offering would consist of 18 channels.
SABC Sport was originally intended to be one of these channels, but the Channel24.co.za website said the SABC’s initial DTT offering will now only consist of SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3, as well as SABC News and the repeat channel SABC Encore.
Channel24.co.za added that South Africa is set to miss the global deadline of June 17 set by the International Telecommunication Union to fully complete the DTT switch and digital migration process – a date after which all analogue television signals are supposed to be switched off.