Talk:Television in South Africa

Untitled

From the article: The availability of US programming was partly the result of a co-operative venture with Universal Studios in 1980 where an episode of 'Knight Rider' was filmed in the Namib desert in South West Africa (today Namibia), and local acting talent was involved in the filming.

The year must be wrong; Knight Rider did not debut in the US, and most likely was not filmed, until 1982. --Metropolitan90 08:07, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Unsourced material removed by me at 07:22, 25 April 2013‎. Alan G. Archer (talk) 19:14, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Interster

At present one-fifth of the article about South African television is a detailed description of the 1970s Afrikaans-language kids' TV puppet show Interster. I'm inclined to make this section into its own article - any thoughts? Humansdorpie 10:19, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd agree that it would probably be notable enough to warrant its own article. dewet|™ 11:13, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Vivid

There's no mention at all of Sentech's satellite service, Vivid. See www.sentech.co.za Roger 19:53, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Info boxes?

Could someone please make info boxes for the channels...etv has one, don't seen why the other channels can't have one- at least the terrestrial channels. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Toca (talk • contribs) 10:05, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Languages

The article first says that there was initially an even split between English and Afrikaans, but then says this:

• In 1996, two years after the ANC came to power, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels, so as to be more representative of different language groups. This resulted in the downgrading of Afrikaans' status by reducing its airtime, a move that angered many Afrikaans speakers.

How can downgrading Afrikaans from equality with English be "more representative of different language groups", since the Afrikaans-speaking group is larger than the English-speaking one?

This seems more like a step in favor of elevating English to higher status despite its lesser representation. The article seems to criticize the Afrikaans-speakers since a move it praises as having increased representativity is said to have angered them.67.150.245.207 (talk) 13:50, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

number of televisions

I have read somewhere that 1/1,000 people in Africa possess a television set. Has anyone a source confirming that claim? Twipley (talk) 00:03, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

List of all Free-to-Air satelite services in South Africa

This page does not contain a complete list of all the free to air satellite services in South Africa. There is a need to:

• a) List all the satellites available to South Africa.
• b) The location of the satellites.
• c) TV and Radio channels available on these satellites.
• d) The decoders required to view these channels.
• e) The size of the dish required to make use of these satellites.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.145.24.184 (talk • contribs) 16:24, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Famous "devil's own box" quote attributed to Dutch Reformed Church

I needed the original for some research, so I checked the source cited: "Sunday Times, 8 January 2007, From devil’s box to diversity: 30 years of SABC television" at http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=5299 Here's the quote in full text: "Before its introduction into this country, television was regarded as the devil’s own box, for disseminating communism and immorality — even if, their treasonable hormones running riot , dominees of the Dutch Reformed Church (known in my time as the National Party at prayer) broke the Immorality Act with gleeful impunity and without assistance from television." Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane lambasts DRC (/NP) immorality but does not attribute this statement to it. In fact Mzamane does not attribute it to anybody but his own direct recollections from the mindset of the period. It may as well be true but there's neither evidence nor claim thereto. The original article by Mzamane is better linked here: http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article85211.ece/From-devils-box-to-diversity---30-years-of-SABC-television This misquote is now itself copied verbatim from Wikipedia all over the web. If there's a direct quote of the Kerke it should be found. I alerted both the NR Kerke and Prof. Mzamane and will feed back here. Spamhog (talk) 20:30, 19 July 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

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Role of apartheid in television ban & Hertzog's statements

Currently in the Opposition to introduction section, this article lists a number of different reasons for South Africa's longtime TV ban, mostly given by minister Albert Hertzog, including: balance between Afrikaans and English language media, that TV is a "spiritual and physical danger", lack of parental control, and the "evils that have attended" TV. It also notes Hertzog's concerns at TV's effect on "children, the less developed and other races", as well as importing films showing "race mixing". The current composition includes the racial considerations as somewhat of an afterthought, only mentioning Hertzog's comments about race after listing numerous other innocuous and vague other concerns provided by the regime at the time. The section makes no mention of the Apartheid system whatsoever, or any hint at what "races" the government may have been concerned with "mixing" or "effecting". This seems like quite an oversight, partly because it only briefly mentions race as a factor in a significant policy by a notoriously racist regime but doesn't explain any of that; but also an oversight because other sources suggest the racial consideration was not merely one of many factors, but the central and deciding factor in the TV ban. If you Google search "South Africa TV ban", the very first item that comes up is a New York Times article from 1964 titled "South Africa Defends TV Ban; Sees Danger to a White Society". In the article, they quote several statements from Albert Hertzog himself which explicitly state the racial consideration behind the TV ban in much more clear and inflammatory terms than what's included in the Wikipedia article currently. Hertzog is quoted as saying TV is used as a "deadly weapon to undermine the morale of the white man", and the supporters of TV introduction "will also succeed in a short time in encompassing the destruction of white South Africa". The NYT article notes the various claimed reasons but says observers consider race the deciding factor: "In the last few years the Government has offered many reasons for banning television. It has been called “too expensive,” “an unnecessary luxury” and “the greatest destroyer of family life in the Western world.” However, observers here believe the real reasons are those hinted at in Dr. Hertzog's declaration." It even says the debate over English vs. Afrikaans was just a proxy conflict for the purpose of resisting racial equality: "The result, the Government fears, would be a growing Anglicization” of South African life and a consequent undermining of “Afrikanerdom.” With this goes the fear of the “liberalistic” political and racial ideas that originate in Britain and the United States." (I've screenshotted and uploaded the entire NYT article here for anyone who can't see the article on the NYT website itself.) I recognize this is just one source, but just about every other outside source on the TV ban says the same thing about the primacy of race in the ban and use the same quotes from Hertzog. This context and these quotes from Hertzog give a significantly different and more complete framing of the TV ban than what's provided in the article currently. At the present time, this wiki article downplays the racial element as merely one of many reasons for the ban; we see now this claim has been recognized and reported since at least 1964 as a smokescreen for Apartheid, and in fact an element of Nationalist Party propaganda. I suggest at very least these additional quotes from Hertzog should be added to this section; and preferably, some content should be added or rewritten to frame the TV ban for what historians and journalists agree it actually was: an explicit tool of the Apartheid system; and to mention who this policy and system actually targeted, i.e. the roughly 80% of the national population who were Black or mixed race, who are not mentioned at all in the section currently. --VolatileChemical (talk) 21:45, 19 June 2022 (UTC)