South Africa: content war continues with hunger strike

Readers may recall a story that broke a few months back describing how the content industry in South Africa formed a coalition to protest against the national broadcaster's IP and payment policies. The coalition staged an uprising which played a big part in forcing SABC board resignations and them begging for a government bail out. The story continues with a hunger strike.

"Accusations, counter-accusations, hunger strike, protests, name-calling, defiance, denialism, late payments, delayed procurement, deferrals and axing. These are just some of the fundamental characteristics of the local content ‘battle for survival' currently being fought between the SABC and the TV Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC). And it is turning nastier day after day." (Issa Sikiti da Silva).

People have learnt how to fight for what they think is right in RSA. Whether a hunger strike is appropriate in this situation seems inappropriate to question.

South Africa: SABC's reply, and implosion

The television content industry (represented by the TVIEC) are able to celebrate news that their march has played a part in the resignation of three members of the SABC board with more likely to follow, and the industry's demands have achieved a reply. However, the industry remains unpaid and the SABC reply appears unsatisfactory. The industry will also be depressed to learn that the SABC also owes SuperSport nearly R100 million (approx $12million) for broadcast rights to the local Premier Soccer League, which is more than the TVIEC's combined claim, and that the SABC's R2 billion government bail-out request is unlikely to materialise soon, according to reports.

For a review of how this story has unfolded, the posts South Africa: Content Industry Marches and South Africa: Content Industry v SABC will be useful.

The Mail & Guardian carries the front page headline: SABC Implodes and Screenafrica.com has published the SABC's reply.

Co-incidentally this all happens as South Africa prepares to remember its June 16 1976 Soweto Uprising with a national holiday, tomorrow.

South Africa: Content industry marches

Following on from an earlier post "Content Industry v SABC", the protest march took place earlier today with ScreenAfrica providing this report: Huge turnout for anti-SABC march

"During the march protestors wielded dozens of banners with slogans that read: “Pay up – it’s the right thing to do”, “Stop actors being cheated”, “Rest in Peace South African programmes”, “SABC squanders while film workers suffer”, “The shows must go on”, “No show with no dough”, “Programmes not perks”, “Lights, camera , no action”, “Stop pulling our strings”, “Where is South Africa’s best content?” “Our industry can’t survive on air” and “Bored with the Board”.


A banner representing the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) read: “IPO fighting for sustainability and fair trade, quality local content, ownership of IP, and respectful relationships”.

A representative from the South African Scriptwriters Union (SASWU) talked about the issue of residuals to actors and musicians. She also said that intellectual property (IP) should reside with the creator. “We want a standard contract to protect writers. I’m standing here as someone wanting to make a living in this industry.”

South Africa is of course a country where mass action has, historically, been very effective in producing results. SABC's response is therefore eagerly awaited.

Content Industry v SABC

South of the equator almost an entire content industry is taking on a national television channel by staging a mass protest on 4 June 2009 over alleged unpaid fees and unfair business practices and terms, some relating to IP ownership. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) finds itself portrayed as a dysfunctional non paying bully by the Television Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC) a coalition of content providers who have banded together to address a problem they say threatens their very existence. Depending on which news source you read (egs here, here and here) the total amount allegedly unpaid ranges from $5 million to $7 million. The TVIEC and SABC have asked the government to intervene. Afro-IP's comments on the IP aspects of the TVIEC's open letter to government may be found here.  Since then news of the mass protest has surfaced. It seems that government has little choice but to intervene because a defunct SABC (SA's equivalent of the BBC) has significant implications for the South African public. One hopes that a bail out does not come at the expense of an independence the SABC has done well to achieve to date.