The SABC plans to slash the fees it pays to actors and writers for rebroadcasts and will eventually refuse to pay these professionals altogether, respected broadcasting journalist Thinus FerreiraCurrently, actors receive 25% of their original payment if a rebroadcast happens during prime time and 15% for all other repeats.
It is important to note that the SABC’s financial woes mean it increasingly relies on reruns of old shows as it cannot afford new programming.The manager reportedly behind the changes to the above rerun payment structures is also one of three senior SABC staff members implicated in hiding a multimillion-rand advertising share agreement within a contract.
On 16 November 2022, when the contract was first drafted, the SABC’s legal team questioned the clause, and according to an investigation by legal firm Werksmans, the decision-maker and Discover Digital managing director Stephen Watson responded by saying the clause was, in fact, applicable to the agreement.
The third individual, the executive, also allegedly misrepresented his knowledge of the clause at the same meeting. “The SABC is as a matter of principle not at liberty to discuss matters pertaining to an employer-employee relationship in the public space.”MyBroadband contacted Discover Digital managing director Stephen Watson to hear his company’s side of the story, and he provided the following statement.
Discover Digital decided not to bill the SABC for its part of the agreed revenue share until such time as the business plan had been corrected and internally approved by the SABC. It peaked at approximately 210,000 concurrent viewers during the Rugby World Cup Final between the Springboks and the All Blacks.