Television in South Africa

The first proposal to introduce television in South Africa was made by the J Arthur Rank organisation in 1953, but this was rejected by the National Party government.[1] 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 the Afrikaner volk, giving undue prominence to English, and creating unfair competition for the Afrikaans press.[2]

Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd compared television with atomic bombs and poison gas, claiming that "they are modern things, but that does not mean they are desirable. The government has to watch for any dangers to the people, both spiritual and physical."[3]

Dr. Albert Hertzog, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs 1958-1968

Dr. Albert Hertzog, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs at the time, argued that "the effect of wrong pictures on children, the less developed and other races can be destructive".[1] Declaring that TV would come to South Africa "over [his] dead body,"[4] Hertzog denounced it as "only a miniature bioscope which is being carried into the house and over which parents have no control."[5] He also argued that "South Africa would have to import films showing race mixing; and advertising would make Africans dissatisfied with their lot."[6]

However, many white South Africans, including some Afrikaners, did not share Hertzog's hostility towards what he called "the little black box".[7] 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, prompting one newspaper to remark, "The moon film has proved to be the last straw… The situation is becoming a source of embarrassment for the country."[8] In response to public demand, the government arranged limited viewings of the landing, in which people were able to watch recorded footage for 15 minutes.[9]

The opposition United Party pointed out that even less economically advanced countries in Africa had already introduced television.[2] In addition, neighbouring Southern Rhodesia had introduced its own television service in 1960, the first country in Africa south of the equator to do so.[10] Known as Rhodesia Television (RTV), its major shareholders were South African companies, including the Argus Group of newspapers through its subsidiary, the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company,[11] and Davenport and Meyer,[12] the latter of which operated LM Radio, based in Mozambique, then under Portuguese rule.[13]

Commenting on Rhodesia's experience with television, Ivor Benson, who served as Director of the Government Information Department under Ian Smith, remarked that the South African government "had been wise to stand firm against a great deal of well-organised pressure and to insist on waiting until some means might be found of separating television from some of the evils which have attended it in other countries".[14]

In the absence of television in South Africa, a radio version of the British television series The Avengers was produced by Sonovision for SABC's commercial network, Springbok Radio, in 1972. While it only ran for eighteen months, the radio series proved highly popular.[15]

In 1968, the government's opposition to the introduction of television began to soften after Hertzog was removed as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs by Prime Minister John Vorster.[16] In 1971, it appointed a "Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to Television", headed by Piet Meyer, chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond, and later of the SABC.[17] A majority of its members, of whom nine were Broederbond members, recommended that a television service be introduced, provided that "effective control" was exercised "to the advantage of our nation and country".[18]

The Commission also argued that people in South Africa would eventually be able to receive foreign television broadcasts via satellite, thereby bypassing government censorship, and that this should be pre-empted through the introduction of a domestic service.[19] In addition, it would be inconceivable that the Publications Control Board would be able to censor each video cassette that came into the country when they became available in mass quantities.[20]

In 1971, the SABC was finally allowed to introduce a television service. Initially, the proposal was for two television channels, one in English and Afrikaans, aimed at white audiences, and another, known as TV Bantu, aimed at black viewers.[21] However, when television was finally introduced, there was only one channel with airtime divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, alternating between the two languages.[22] Test transmissions in Johannesburg began on 5 May 1975, followed in July by ones in Cape Town and Durban.[23] Nationwide services finally commenced on 5 January 1976.[24]

In common with most of Western Europe, South Africa used the PAL system for colour television, being only the second terrestrial television service in sub-Saharan Africa to launch with a colour-only service, Zanzibar in Tanzania having introduced the first such service in 1973[25] (Tanzania itself did not establish a television service until the early 1990s, similarly concerned about the expense and perceived threat to cultural norms).[26] The Government, advised by SABC technicians, took the view that colour television would have to be available so as to avoid a costly migration from black-and-white broadcasting technology.[2]

Initially, the TV service was funded entirely through a licence fee as in the UK, charged at R36.[27] However, advertising began on 1 January 1978.[28]

On 1 January 1982, two services were introduced, TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, aimed at a black urban audience.[29][30] In 1985, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, using the channel shared by TV2 and TV3, which ended transmissions at 9:30 pm.[31] In 1992, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were combined into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values).[32] A third channel was introduced known as TSS, or Topsport Surplus, Topsport being the brand name for the SABC's sport coverage, but this was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an educational, non-commercial channel, in 1994.[33]

The main channel, now called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. It also became available in Walvis Bay, an enclave of South Africa in Namibia, which was itself then under South African administration, with a live feed of the channel broadcast via Intelsat being retransmitted on a local low-power repeater.[34]

In 1986, the SABC's monopoly was challenged by the launch of a subscription-based service known as M-Net, backed by a consortium of newspaper publishers on 1 October.[35] However, as part of its licensing restrictions, it could not broadcast news programmes, which were still the preserve of the SABC, although M-Net started broadcasting a current affairs programme called Carte Blanche in 1988.[36] As the state-controlled broadcaster, the SABC was accused of bias towards the apartheid regime, giving only limited coverage to opposition politicians.[37]

Many imported programmes were dubbed into Afrikaans, some of the first being the British detective series The Sweeney (known in Afrikaans as Blitspatrollie) and Van der Valk,[38] as well as the puppet series Thunderbirds.[39] However, in July 1986, in order to accommodate English speakers, the SABC began to simulcast the original soundtrack of American series on an FM radio service called Radio 2000.[40] These included Miami Vice (known as Misdaad in Miami),[41] The Six Million Dollar Man, (Steve Austin: Die Man van Staal)[42] and Beverly Hills, 90210.[43] This also applied to German and Dutch programmes dubbed in Afrikaans, such as the German detective series Derrick,[44] and the Dutch soap opera Medisch Centrum West, known in Afrikaans as Hospitaal Wes Amsterdam.[45]

Similarly, many programmes, such as The Jeffersons, were dubbed into Zulu.[46]

Owing to South Africa's apartheid policies, the British Actors' Equity Association started a boycott of programme sales to South Africa, which, combined with a similar boycott by Australia, meant that South African TV was dominated by programming from the United States.[47] As a result, it was only after the end of apartheid that the boycott was lifted and non-US programming became much more widely available.

However, some US production companies such as Lorimar, withdrew series like Knots Landing and Falcon Crest from South African circulation,[41] while the transmission of the Academy Awards ceremony to South Africa was also banned.[48]

The first locally produced TV programmes in South Africa were in English and Afrikaans. English-language programmes include the family drama series The Dingleys and The Villagers,[49] as well as comedy series Biltong and Potroast, featuring South African and British comedians,[50] and variety programme The Knicky Knacky Knoo Show.[51] Other programmes were the children's series Bangalory Time,[52] music series Pop Shop[53] and sports programme Sportsview.[54]

Afrikaans programmes included the comedy series Nommer Asseblief and Die Bosveldhotel, which were later made into feature films.[55] Children's programmes included puppet shows, such as Haas Das se Nuuskas[56] and Liewe Heksie.[57] Other programmes in Afrikaans were the sports programme Sportfokus[58] music programme Musik en Liriek.[59]

However, it was the Zulu-language comedy, 'Sgudi 'Snaysi, which achieved the SABC's highest viewing figures in the late 1980s.[60] It was also shown in Zimbabwe and Swaziland.[61]

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.[62]

Since the end of apartheid, some South African-produced programmes have been shown internationally, such as SABC 3's scifi/drama series Charlie Jade, a co-production between the Imaginarium and Canada's CHUM, which has been broadcast in over 20 countries, including Japan, France, South Korea, and in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel.[63] M-Net's soap opera Egoli: Place of Gold, was shown in 43 African countries, and was even exported to Venezuela, where it was dubbed in Spanish.[64]