Goodbye to MNet open time
2007-03-26 09:44
Cape Town - When the final whistle blows in the Super-14 rugby match between the Lions and the Brumbies on Saturday, it will also signal the end of 20 years of MNet open time for millions of viewers.
Around 500 000 viewers catch open time every day, but for productions like Survivor South Africa and Idols the number doubles to a million.
Glen Marques, executive chief of MNet says the biggest impact of ending open time will be a loss of advertising revenue. He didn't want to call any figures.
Apart from losing revenue, MNet will also surrender the opportunity to communicate with millions of non-viewers each day.
There are about 1,2m DStv subscribers at present, compared with 190 000 with MNet decoders.
When the Independent Broadcasting Authority of South Africa (Ibasa) voted last year to end open time, MNet decided to strengthen the appeal of its "soapie hour".
The popular hospital drama Binnelanders, which was formerly broadcast weekly, was recast in soapie format, and has followed Egoli - Place of Gold since the end of January this year.
"We wanted to attract more potential clients and more advertising revenue," Marques said.
DStv Compact deal with 'soapie hour'
For viewers who'd like to keep up with their favourite soapies even though they'll be available only on a pay channel, there's a cheaper option than the R439,90 a month for DStv's premium packet for more than 70 channels.
Multichoice offers a DStv Compact deal for R199 a month, which gives access to 26 channels.
MNet is not one of the channels, but a special "soapie hour" is to be introduced between 18:00 and 19:00 daily, to view Egoli and Binnelanders.
There's also the option of an MNet decoder and a monthly tariff, which will be R239,90 a month from April 1.
Herman Wasserman, associate professor in journalism at Stellenbosch University, says closing open time is not necessarily a negative move.
"The arrangement for MNet to get open time on SABC hails from a decision by the apartheid government.
"It was therefore expected that this agreement would end, even though it has taken a long time.
"In terms of the existing agreement the public broadcaster has been generating revenue for a private, commercial media concern. That militates against the concept of a public broadcaster with a public mandate.
"In addition, it has given one of the commercial players in the media an unfair edge over its competitors."