SABC Television Channels
SABC1 is a South African community public service television channel that broadcasts programming in English and Nguni.
SABC2 is a South African public television channel for families that broadcasts programming in English, Afrikaans, Venda, and Tsonga.
SABC3 carries a high proportion of foreign television series, primarily in English.
SABC News is a 24-hour news channel that broadcasts local and international news as well as current affairs programming.
SABC Encore is a free-to-air digital satellite and digital terrestrial television retro rerun channel that broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
When you consider the R265 annual TV licence fee, it is technically not possible to watch SABC channels completely free of charge. There is the option of paying R28 per month, which works out to R336 per year. While payment compliance varies, the SABC still derives a portion of its revenue from licence fees. Aside from free-to-air, all of the other broadcast mediums listed below have ongoing costs.
Free-to-air television
Given that SABC is government-owned and publicly funded, they are required by law to reach as many South Africans as possible. One of the primary means is free-to-air terrestrial broadcasting, which is available to the majority of South Africans, particularly in urban areas.
You only need to buy a new TV set to receive SABC TV signals. Most modern televisions include analogue and digital tuners. An external antenna is extremely useful, especially if you live far from the nearest broadcast mast in a city or are obscured by concrete structures or dense natural landscapes.
The exact broadcast frequencies are not required. Furthermore, the exact channel per location is determined by the nearest Sentech repeater. A modern television set can auto-scan and memorise the frequencies of all the strong TV signals it detects in its vicinity.
Where the signal is strong enough, digital TV provides the best experience. Not only is the picture/sound much clearer, but the digital signal also carries some additional data services (such as programming information).
HD OpenView
OpenView is a South African Free To View Direct Broadcast Satellite television provider that provides free TV and radio broadcasts. To use the service, you must be a South African resident and purchase the start-up kit. The specifics can be found here.
OpenView only provides SABC1, SABC2, and SABC3 out of the five SABC channels. The channels are not in high definition, but they are adequate and have full programming schedules.
For this carriage, SABC does not appear to have a direct contract with the owners of OpenView.
DTH Satellite for Free
Sentech broadcasts SABC channels direct-to-home (DTH) on Intelsat 20 at 68.5°E: 11514 V. Only SABC News (HD) and SABC Encore are unencrypted among the five channels.
DStv for almost nothing
At 29 Rands per month, DStv’s EasyView bouquet includes all 5 SABC TV channels as well as 32 other channels such as e.TV, Soweto TV, Bay TV, 1 KZN, Tshwane TV, Cape Town TV, GauTV, and Lesotho TV. A free month is included with an annual payment.
Streaming in Real Time
On YouTube, SABC News and SABC 2 regularly live stream important urgent national events. There is no fixed link. Because each live stream has a unique address, we are unable to link to it.
All of the SABC TV channels have their own YouTube channels. They show news, current affairs, documentaries, and live SABC News broadcasts on occasion.
Many of the TV shows are available for free on YouTube, though some are now being moved to the Viu app.
Is it possible to watch SABC TV online?
Start watching our free content or subscribe to one of our AMP subscription options such as daily, weekend, week, or monthly. Users can also download the TelkomONE App from the Android/IOS app stores.
Is it possible to watch SABC without DStv?
There is a common misconception that in order to watch SABC channels, you must have a DStv decoder. With the rising cost of living in South Africa, this misconception has become even more costly. The truth is that a DStv decoder is not required to access SABC channels.
Is it possible to watch SABC channels on Showmax?
Showmax Pro also includes a selection of live news channels, including SABC News (only available in South Africa), Euronews, Africanews, and Newzroom Afrika. Showmax Pro can be obtained by visiting showmax.com.
