Telkom, SABC partner to launch new streaming channel TelkomONE

9 Nov 2020

Telkom and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) recently announced a partnership to launch a new streaming channel called TelkomONE. The mobile operator channel will house the public broadcaster's free-to-air radio and TV channels.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

The five-year partnership, a first-of-its-kind digital carriage agreement for the SABC, will showcase some of South Africa's most-watched TV programmes and most listened to radio platforms on one online platform. TelkomONE will stream live SABC's television channels 1, 2, Sport and Education as well as all 19 SABC radio stations.

Sipho Maseko, Telkom's group chief executive officer, commented: "TelkomONE will make it possible for subscribers to pause, go back into the programme guide - time-shift- and instantly watch a scheduled TV show they may have missed. Telkom is making digital TV functionality available to all.”

Maseko concluded that the mobile-friendly TelkomONE will include a plethora of other content over and above the SABC channels, such as comedy, lifestyle content and music for youth and others on-the-go. Other content will include local short films and new productions such as Thesha.

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC's group chief executive officer, said: "Telkom was a natural partner with whom to build a new platform for developing and disseminating South African content. The partnership is significant in ensuring that our content, in all its formats, reaches consumers everywhere at any time. The SABC has a wealth of content – both acquired and produced by local talent – that we broadcast on our free-to-air channels."

Through the new streaming channel, we will further promote universal access to popular SABC content for audiences and customersn.We will also create added opportunities for our local producers to showcase more of their work on a platform on which content can live longer than on traditional media platforms. The TelkomOne partnership is part of the SABC’s overall strategy of becoming a competitive multichannel and multiplatform public content provider.”

The SABC will provide its content to Telkom on a non-exclusive basis. In exchange, the SABC will receive a carriage licence fee as well as share in the advertising revenue generated on the TelkomONE platform.

Customers can browse the catalogue and register for free to access our on-the-house content that has a mixture of news, inspiration and entertainment channels - SABC audio and TV channels, Africa News, France 24, Hope Channel, SBN - or subscribe to any of our AMP subscription packages that include music, short films, TV series plus the free content by default upon registration.