Everyone is baffled by these 2 SABC announcements

Cape Town – The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) this week had everyone doing a double take with their latest revelations.

Two specific announcements stood out in the entertainment headlines on Thursday with the one relating to the amount of money the SABC owes artists in unpaid royalties and the other on its decision to bring back the 7de Laan omnibus. 

The bad news

The public broadcaster on Wednesday told parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) that they are “behind with royalty payments" and owes artists at least R75.4m.

The SABC revealed that it owes the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) R14.5m, the SA Music Performance Rights Association (Sampra) R52.7m, the Association of Independent Record Companies (ARIC) R2.8m, the Composers Authors and Publishers Association (Capasso) R3m and the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa) R2.4m.

The SABC also failed to pay all artists, winners and contributors for the 2017 Metro FM Awards held months ago. 

* Read more here.

The good news

A second announcement that had social buzzing was the news that the 7de Laan omnibus will be returning to Sunday afternoons on SABC2 from July. 

This comes after the SABC previously decided to remove the omnibus from its schedule. But following an avalanche of complaints from viewers the soapie is back in its usual Sunday afternoon spot. SABC2 viewership on Sundays without the omnibus has been lower over the past three months.

* Read more here. 

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(Photo: Supplied)