If you haven’t kept up with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), we’ve got some good news. The broadcaster recently launched a new free channel called SABC News Live to give your eyeballs a workout. Its goal isn’t to entertain, however. Instead, it’ll provide “live, minute-by-minute coverage of election related content.”
For your viewing… pleasure?
Any entertainment derived from watching the country’s leaders jockeying for supremacy is entirely on you. The channel launched on 19 October, but it won’t stick around forever. It’s a pop-up channel that’ll self-destruct sometime after the elections take place on Wednesday, 4 November. You may want to get watching.
“Through this innovative platform, the SABC continues to fulfil its public mandate by expanding access to timely, relevant and credible news. SABC News Live will enable audiences to follow election developments as they unfold, wherever they are, while creating opportunities for more interactive and engaging ways of consuming news,” the broadcaster said.
The SABC is seemingly embracing the digital age. It says viewers can access the free election coverage on their smartphones, tablets, computers, and smart TVs. But for folks without these devices or the necessary internet to access them, the lack of a traditional broadcast is unfortunate.
To that end, the SABC News Live channel is currently broadcasting on SABC Plus, the corporation’s free-to-use streaming service. In a bid to get the younger generation involved, the broadcaster mentioned that it’s exploring “innovative digital storytelling formats,” such as podcasts, to keep ’em interested.
