SECTOR 3 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: ✓✓✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 1.8 (2013: 1.9; 2010: 2.2; 2008: n/a; 2006: n/a) 3.7 The state/public broadcaster offers diverse programming formats for all interests, including local content and quality public interest programmes Panellists felt that in terms of diverse formats and range of content, SABC radio provided ‘much more relevant and more local content than television’, while across the board the SABC’s programming was ‘not as good as possible’. It was noted that people might not be paying their TV licences because of the poor quality of the content. ‘DStv [at more than 900 ZAR (62 USD) a month for the full bouquet] is much more expensive than the SABC [265 ZAR (18 USD) for an annual SABC TV licence] but nearly 7 million households pay those fees to MultiChoice.’ It was noted that some people do not pay their SABC licence fees because they will not get cut off for defaulting on the payment. It was also stated that DStv has many more channels, making it a more attractive option in terms of choice. Although SABC radio stations do offer a considerable amount of choice when it comes to content, with a broad range of topics covered in the country’s official languages. According to a panellist, research conducted by the Media Policy and Democracy Project (a project of the University of South Africa and the University of Johannesburg) showed that the perception of the SABC’s content was that it was a considerable improvement for black people, compared to what was previously available under apartheid South Africa when it was the mouthpiece of the Nationalist Party state. The content could, however, still be more diverse. It was also noted that the ‘whole political and economic landscape determines the formats’. However, ‘SABC TV has been sneaking about when it comes to enacting the local content requirements, by broadcasting old content through repeats of local programmes across the three TV stations.’ 44 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018