
On Saturday evening between 18:30pm and 19:30 pm, the SABC channels went blank to some parts of South Africa.
Tebogo Mahlaba (30) a resident of Mabopane, North of Tshwane said that he is disgruntled in the manner which SABC treats the audiences, “I have missed a lot of my favourite programmes. I pay TV license but I get a bad service from the SABC, if this issue persists on consecutive days, then I think we should start protesting not to pay the TV licenses, she said.
The SABC announced on Friday that it will make minor changes to its TV schedule, including a revamp of the popular soap drama Generations. The changes will take place on SABC channels 1, 2 and 3, effective from 1 October.
On Tuesday between 9:30am-15pm the TV channels went off screen again and caused anger to some business owners.
Richard Mekgwe (34) a business man from Mabopane told Spotlight that he is not happy regarding the interruptions ,” The SABC should stop interrupting our TV channels, I almost lost my clients because of the channels disturbance . My clients were watching TV at my business premise on Tuesday when the interruptions occurred and after they saw the blankness, they insulted me and told me that my TV is a crap and that I should throw it away, he said.
The SABC announced that on SABC 1, local drama repeats will take place at 18:30 and the 20:00 Generations slot will be replaced by local drama, Skeem Saam Season 3. All other programming on the channel will stay the same.
The following changes will take place on SABC 2 from the 3rd of November 2014:
• 17:30: Shangaan and Venda News (broadcast on an alternate basis)
• 18:30: 7 de Laan
• 19:00: Afrikaans Nuus
• 19:30: SeSotho and Setswana News. (This is in line with audience requests for this bulletin to be transmitted earlier in the evening.)
• Mooiloop moves to Thursdays 20:00
• What’s Behind The Wall (Mondays-Tuesdays 20:30)
• Ba kae (Wednesday-Thursdays 20:30)
• 90 Plein Street (Wednesdays 21:30)
• Interface (moves to Sundays 20:30)
The following changes will take place on SABC 3 from the 3rd of November:
Afrikaans Nuus will return to SABC 2 at 19:00.
• Mondays:
Big Bang Theory moves from Tuesday 20:00 to Monday 19:30 for a double bill of sitcom on a Monday night, with ‘The Transporter’ moving from 22:00 to 21:30 into earlier prime time.
• Tuesdays:
A new foreign drama slot has been created, Chicago Fire S1 replacing Nuus & The Big Bang Theory.
• Wednesdays
The Sunday foreign drama Missing, moves to Wednesday 19:30 – 20:30.
• Thursdays
Man Cave moves from Wednesday 20:00 to Thursday 19:30.
• Fridays
Xtra Factor moves from 20:00 to 19:30.
The movie slot moves from 21:00 to 20:00 until Xtra Factor ends.
• Saturday
Desperate Housewives premier slot follows the Saturday night romantic drama slot at 21:30, previously broadcast on a Tuesday at 22:30. Desperate Housewives will repeat in its current slot on Tuesdays.
• Sundays
Special Assignment moves from 20:00 to 19:30.
The documentary slot moves from Monday 21:30 to Sunday 20:00.
Africa Calling will premier in this slot in November.
Revenge moves from 20:30 to 21:00.
Regenesis moves from 22:30 to 22:00.
The SABC says in a statement that news programming has been shifted as a result of audience feedback.