Re-Visioning Television

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Policy, Strategy and Models for the Sustainable Development of Community Television in South Africa The introduction of a quality, accessible local television network represents the final piece in post-apartheid South Africas media jigsaw. With legislation and policy now in place, the fitting of the last piece is imminent. The race is now on to develop models and fine-tune systems that will make the most powerfully democratic tier of broadcast media sustainable, empowering and development friendly. Free media and/or community media is anathema to repressive governments around the world. In South Africa, by contrast, community television is expected to play an important role in job creation and skills development as well as contribute to the strengthening of civil society, the promotion of participative governance and the expression of the countrys rich linguistic and cultural heritage. This book, compiled by South African experts in community broadcasting with the assistance of many key figures in the sector, traces the two-decade campaign for local-level television in South Africa. It highlights the development of policy, reviews existing international models and spells out the technical, financial and managerial challenges that face this nascent sector. Policy-makers, community television station managers and staff, development analysts and funders, media academics and students, press officers, organisations wishing to access local TV together with anyone interested in community media in the developing world generally, and community television specifically, will find this book important reading.

• Introduction to community television
• Regulatory overview
• Lessons from community radio
• CTV in South Africa today
• Partnerships
• Signal distribution
• Production
• Programming
• Audience research
• Rural CTV
• Future technical directions for CTV
• Business models
• Conclusion
• Case study: CTV Cape Town business model
• Appendices

Dr Adrian Hadland is a Research Director in the Democracy and Governance research programme of the HSRC. Before joining the HSRC, Hadland worked as a political editor, columnist and assistant editor of the Cape Argus.

Mike Aldridge is a media practitioner and communications consultant working in the fields of video production, print journalism and new media. He holds an MA degree in Cultural & Media Studies and has been involved in the research and development of community television for the past ten years.

Joshua Ogada is currently a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State University on the topic of political communications and mass media research. He has worked for some time in the community radio sector in South Africa and has conducted audience research for Bush Radio, among others.