The SABC has dismissed a Sunday newspaper report suggesting it’s planning to go back, cap in hand, to government for another bailout.
Citing unnamed “insiders” on the corporation’s board, the Sunday Times reported that there has been a R282-million shortfall in revenue, and that it forecasts a loss of R2.5-billion in the next eight months. The newspaper said this was the result of “being forced to direct more money to Covid-19 educational programmes and live ministerial briefings on the pandemic”.
It said the shortfall was the result of the SABC having to cancel programmes that bring in millions of rand of advertising money.
Government recently agreed to a R3.2-billion bailout package for the SABC.
The corporation on Sunday labelled the newspaper report as “inaccurate and misleading”.
“The article states that the corporation will tomorrow appear before parliament’s portfolio committee on communications & digital technologies to request additional funding. This is not true,” it said.
“The SABC has not requested any additional funding, and has no meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the portfolio committee on this matter. In fact, the SABC will be presenting its 2020/2021 corporate plan to the portfolio committee on Wednesday, 13 May.
‘Significant impact’
“It is worth noting that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every industry globally, including the broadcasting industry. Advertising revenues have been slashed across the media industry, causing many media entities to look at cost-cutting mechanisms,” it said in a statement.
“While the pandemic has affected the SABC’s revenue projections for this fiscal year due to the decline in advertising spend, the revenue shortfall figures and forecasted losses quoted by the Sunday Times are inaccurate. The correct forecasted numbers have been submitted to the shareholder (government) and will be presented to the portfolio committee in due course.”
It said there is “no application for any additional bailout from national treasury. Since it received its bailout allocation from treasury, the SABC has restored a healthy working capital cycle aligned with the cash flow forecasting models.” — © 2020 NewsCentral Media
