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How will I know if the program which is about to be shown contains explicit or offensive material?

The SABC does broadcast warnings - visually and verbally - before a film begins, if it suspects that the film may contain material which could offend. The visual warnings we use are the following:
S: Sex
V: Violence
L: Strong Language
M: Mature Content
The SABC itself no longer censors feature films to be shown after the internationally accepted 'watershed' time for adult viewing, which is 21:00 in the week and 21:30 at weekends. Although some people may consider this too early, the SABC believes that adults have a right to watch adult programmes at a reasonable hour and that parents have a duty to monitor their children's viewing if they are not in bed by then. Please note that the SABC does not classify films and impose age restrictions: this is done by the Film and Publications Board.

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Why does the SABC sometimes broadcast distasteful advertisements ?

Although we understand that some people may find advertisements for feminine sanitary products distasteful, the manufacturers have legitimate commercial products to market and, like the makers of any other product, should be entitled to advertise them in the public media. This principle is accepted by TV broadcasters worldwide, and the SABC has aligned its policy with that of the European Advertising Standards Authority. The SABC accepts these advertisements for broadcast on condition that the advertising is done with sensitivity and in the best possible taste. If you feel that any advertisement is not in suitably good taste you may approach the Association of Advertising Agencies (AAA), which is the South African watchdog body of the advertising industry. Their address is P O Box 2289, Parklands, 2121; e-mail aaa@gem.co.za. If you do not get satisfaction from them, you could address the matter to the Advertising Standards Authority at P O Box 41555, Craighall, 2024.

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Why do your programmes often differ from those published in magazines and newspapers?

It's not easy to provide viewers with accurate programme schedules in advance. Magazines have a printing deadline of five to seven weeks before publication. Although we send them preliminary schedules, these cannot always be accurate and should be seen only as a general guide to the programmes. Schedules are given to newspapers two weeks before the week of broadcast and all change faxed to them immediately, but some papers print their entertainment sections two or three days ahead of issue, so they cannot always make late changes. To overcome these problems a line-up of programmes with accurate starting times is given regularly on the screen. Of course, the schedules are available on this website and we are confident that this service on the Internet will be a vast improvement over the printed schedules.

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Why are the very latest films never shown on SABC?

Public broadcasters, such as the SABC, can't show very recent films. Movies are not released to open networks before their contracts with cinemas, video outlets and cable/subscription networks have expired - usually after four years. Closed circuit or subscription networks (such as M-Net) are treated in the same way as video outlets and may show films much sooner. The distributors first explore every other avenue before releasing films to public broadcasters, because once a film has been aired on a public network there is very little demand for it at any of the outlets such as theatres and video outlets.

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Why does the SABC sometimes broadcast mediocre or inferior films?

We cannot simply pick the best movies from a catalogue. For every block-buster or Oscar-winning film we choose, we also have to buy a whole package of other (less successful) films. In this way real classics are bundled with even more “other” films that may be less appealing to the viewer. It's just the distributors' way of making money from movies no one would consider otherwise. The SABC couldn't afford to leave these mediocre films on the shelf - after all, we paid the usual rate for them - so those movies you didn't want to see probably came with ones you did.

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Does the SABC ever ask the viewers what they really want to see on television?

In the commercial world, if a product doesn't sell, the supplier may ask its target market what it wants. However, they never ask everyone in that market segment, let alone in the whole country. Which of us has ever been asked what kind of soap or toothpaste we like - or anything else, for that matter?. They do it by questioning a scientifically drawn sample of the population, or the niche market. This is exactly what the SABC does. We do research continually, through our own Broadcast Research unit, and through reputable, independent research organisations such as Markinor, the HSRC and Market Research Africa. In other words, we ask our audiences what they want, in the internationally acceptable way, and tailor our broadcast according to this valuable feedback.

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Why do you remove our regular programmes in order to accommodate sport?

The SABC has the challenge of satisfying both sport lovers and those who dislike sport. To compound the issue it has relatively little TV air-time in which to do so. Both groups pay their licence fees so both insist we broadcast programmes of their choice - which is impossible, of course. To satisfy the anti-sport group scheduled sport programmes have been reduced drastically. But this was done on the express understanding that the programme schedule would be altered, as the need arose, to accommodate special sporting events that most viewers would like to watch, such as Wimbledon, the Olympic Games and the World Cup soccer/rugby. We're well aware that many viewers are unhappy about this, but the SABC just doesn't have enough channels to be able to satisfy everyone. A separate channel for sport would be ideal, but the costs would be prohibitive and it would be subject to the approval of the Independent Broadcasting Authority.

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My TV reception is terrible. How do I get it fixed?

Bad reception that lasts for any length of time is usually confined to a small area and we have no way of knowing about it if you don't tell us. As soon as you let us know, we will ask Sentech, our technical company, to investigate, but please remember that we must have your address and a contact telephone number so that the technicians can test the signal on site. Such a problem could have any of a number of causes: it could be your aerial or ghosting caused by nearby rocks, hills, buildings or other structures. There might even be local interference from other users in your block of flats. But remember, reporting the problem is the first step to having it resolved.

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