SABC goes Boldly... Goes Boldly... Goes Boldly...

For more:

• Channel24: SABC1 apologises for Bold blunder... Some DStv subscribers get miffed when they reckon there are too many repeats, but now SABC1 viewers got their own taste of repeats...

• West Cape News: SABC complains of losing viewership to pay channels... Well, repeating the same episode of some soapie isn't exactly going to stem the flow, is it? The key to keeping viewers 101: Offer quality programming, and don't upset your viewers.

• IOL: SABC has ambitious channel plans... What is quite intriguing, however, is that while chief executive Lulama Makhobo defended the quality of the SABC staff (she apparently described them as 'skilled'), she also provided details of plans to roll out 18 new channels in the digital landscape. Apparently, there will be12 in the next three years with six of them, including a 24-hour news outlet, scheduled for roll-out in the 2012/13 financial period.

  This is, of course, dependent on funding - so given the financial situation in which our broadcaster finds itself, don't be surprised if A) We, the taxpayers, have to fork a few more billion to fund this lot and/or B) Some of them do not see the light of day.

  Experts have warned that the ailing public broadcaster may be biting off more than it can chew. They may be right.

  

  (Image: GCIS)

• iafrica.com: Minister 'violated ethics code'... Oh dear... it seems Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson isn't too keen on talking to journalists when Democratic Alliance MP Pieter van Dalen is around. She refused to address the Cape Town Press Club - of which Van Dalen is a fully paid-up member - because he was in the audience. Now the DA wants her 'investigated' because, as Van Dalen has it, "In behaving the way she did at the Press Club on Friday, Minister Joemat-Pettersson violated the executive ethics code that governs the behaviour of ministers." Oh dear, sounds like handbags at dawn, then.

  According to her adviser Joemat-Pettersson believed she would be addressing the media, not politicians, and, according to the iafrica.com report, "had she known it would be a political event, she would have attended in her capacity as member of the African National Congress's national executive and national working committees."

  So does that mean that if any MP of any party is in any audience, his or her presence turns the event into a political gathering? Better watch out at that next church fete... It could end up as a political gathering if your local MP turns up to grab a bargain on the white elephant stall.