BMI TechKnowledge (BMIT) is currently finalising the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) new funding model, and there are strong indications that it will spell the end of the TV licence scheme.
In late 2025, communications minister Solly Malatsi announced that the deadline for finalising the funding model had been extended from 15 December 2025 to 6 February 2026.
MyBroadband asked the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies if the funding model is on track to be finalised by 6 February, but it hadn’t responded by publication.
South African TV licence holders have increasingly avoided paying the associated fees in recent years, placing significant financial strain on the SABC.
Launched in 1975 alongside experimental colour TV broadcasts in South Africa’s major metros, the scheme is no longer relevant today, which the SABC itself admits.
It assumes that all households consume TV content on a single set in their living rooms, which is no longer the case.
The landscape has changed with the era of streaming services, and South African residents are able to view content on various devices.
For a variety of reasons, including a lack of compelling content, eroded trust during the State Capture era, and as a tax revolt, many households stopped paying their TV licences.
Avoidance rates surged between 2019 and 2020, reaching a high of 86% in 2024:
As the SABC is meant to collect a significant portion of its revenue in the form of TV licence fees, the increased non-payment has put it in a dire financial situation.
The long-awaited SABC Bill was intended to provide a way forward for the public broadcaster through a new funding model.
However, the draft presented before Parliament effectively kicked the can down the road by specifying a three-year timeline for finalising the new funding model.
Describing the bill as “fundamentally flawed”, Malatsi withdrew the draft legislation by writing to Parliament speaker Thoko Didiza in November 2024.
The minister received severe backlash for the move, particularly from Khusela Diko, chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies.
In-fighting within the Government of National Unity ensued, and there were reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa would help ANC MPs reverse the withdrawal.
However, in September 2025, Diko stated that the committee had stood down on the issue to allow Malatsi’s plan to proceed, while criticising his slow progress.
Also in September 2025, Malatsi’s department selected BMIT as the preferred bidder to develop the SABC’s funding model.
“This is a major milestone in our efforts to secure the public broadcaster’s future and mandate to serve millions of South Africans,” the minister said.
“BMI TechKnowledge is a long-standing South African ICT research and advisory firm with a proven track record of economic modelling, broadcasting market analysis, and regulatory policy support.”
While the details of the new funding model remain to be seen, stakeholders have proposed various alternatives to the SABC TV licence.
Among these are a universal household levy, or local content quotas with streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ able to pay a media levy for not meeting the requirements.
SABC bigwigs, including CEO Nomsa Chabeli and board chair Khathutshelo Ramukumba, have both indicated that the broadcaster favours a universal, device-neutral, household levy.
In his reasoning, Ramukumba explained that the shift in the broadcasting landscape, where viewers consume content on various devices, means the TV licence scheme has become irrelevant.
He said the most prominent alternative was a household levy similar to Germany’s Rundfunkbeitrag, which ensures citizens have continued access to trusted, independent journalism, education, and entertainment.
Chabeli agrees that the TV licence scheme has failed. However, she said it is due to a historic culture of non-payment in South Africa that isn’t unique to the SABC.
She said the SABC proposed a household levy as an alternative to the TV licence scheme in its submissions on the SABC Bill.
“One of the key things we looked at was a household levy. We’ve also looked at the possibility of SARS introducing a collection mechanism on their side,” said Chabeli.
