Television services from the apartheid South Africa’s erstwhile Bantustans or homelands, like Bophuthatswana Television (Bop TV), have arguably made an indelible contribution to South Africa’s media landscape. Bop TV and its sister station, Mmabatho TV, and other related services were established by the homeland government of Bophuthatswana, primarily to create a platform to communicate with the citizens of the homeland, who were geographically scattered across the greater South Africa (Cowan. Educational Television in Bophuthatswana: Documentation and social assessment of the “Edutel” project, 1991). Likewise, although there was some form of television service in the homelands of Ciskei and Transkei, these services were privately owned and partially government-owned, respectively. At one point early in its history, Bop TV gave the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) a run for its money, as the channel became popular amongst white South Africans, owing to signal spillage into some suburbs. Bop TV’s imported uncensored programmes were now being preferred by white South Africans, as opposed to the SABC’s seemingly boring programming. However, not much is officially documented on the contribution of the homelands’ television services in shaping South Africa’s history of television diffusion. This chapter, thus, traces and reviews the history of television services established by the erstwhile homelands, and how they contributed to the 50 years of television in South Africa. Accordingly, the chapter provides a narrative review of the literature available from the Internet, newspaper articles, academic papers, journals and books. In addition, it also draws on personal experiences of former employees, collected through a telephone interview and texted questions, as well as from the writer of the chapter, who were employed by separate television services from the erstwhile homelands.

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Television Services from the Homelands

  • Mohau Ramodibe

摘要

Television services from the apartheid South Africa’s erstwhile Bantustans or homelands, like Bophuthatswana Television (Bop TV), have arguably made an indelible contribution to South Africa’s media landscape. Bop TV and its sister station, Mmabatho TV, and other related services were established by the homeland government of Bophuthatswana, primarily to create a platform to communicate with the citizens of the homeland, who were geographically scattered across the greater South Africa (Cowan. Educational Television in Bophuthatswana: Documentation and social assessment of the “Edutel” project, 1991). Likewise, although there was some form of television service in the homelands of Ciskei and Transkei, these services were privately owned and partially government-owned, respectively. At one point early in its history, Bop TV gave the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) a run for its money, as the channel became popular amongst white South Africans, owing to signal spillage into some suburbs. Bop TV’s imported uncensored programmes were now being preferred by white South Africans, as opposed to the SABC’s seemingly boring programming. However, not much is officially documented on the contribution of the homelands’ television services in shaping South Africa’s history of television diffusion. This chapter, thus, traces and reviews the history of television services established by the erstwhile homelands, and how they contributed to the 50 years of television in South Africa. Accordingly, the chapter provides a narrative review of the literature available from the Internet, newspaper articles, academic papers, journals and books. In addition, it also draws on personal experiences of former employees, collected through a telephone interview and texted questions, as well as from the writer of the chapter, who were employed by separate television services from the erstwhile homelands.