Telkom and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) announced that they have partnered to launch a new online streaming platform called TelkomONE on Monday, November 9.
This five-year partnership will be the first of its kind for the SABC. The digital carriage agreement with Telkom will showcase South Africa’s most popular television programmes and radio stations on a single online platform — TelkomONE, which will also live stream SABC 1, 2, Sport and Education, as well as all 19 SABC radio stations.
The SABC will provide its content to Telkom on a non-exclusive basis – meaning that the dedicated streaming service they have been hinting at will still be possible – and in exchange, they will receive a carriage licence fee and a share in the advertising revenue garnered by the streaming platform.
Users can browse the TelkomONE catalogue and register for limited access to free content that is a mixture of news, inspiration and entertainment channels. For a more premium selection, users can pay for an AMP subscription package that includes music, short films, television series in addition to the free content.
Users can pay for the AMP subscription, which can be paid for in a variety of ways, such as prepaid airtime, vouchers or existing Telkom customers can add it to their bill. The TelkomONE premium subscription will be half the price of Netflix and equal in price to the cheapest Showmax package, according to Business Insider.
| TelkomONE AMP Subscriptions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Access | Data Allocation | Price |
| TelkomONE Amp Daily | 90MB | R7.00 |
| TelkomONE Amp Weekend | 360MB | R17.00 |
| TelkomONE Amp Weekly | 720MB | R19.00 |
| TelkomONE Amp Monthly | 1,800MB | R49.00 |
“We are excited about the opportunity to provide all South African’s with free access to watch their favourite SABC content, online, whenever they want,” said Sipho Maseko, Telkom’s Group Chief Executive Officer.
He added that TelkomONE “will make it possible for subscribers to pause, go back into the programme guide (time-shift) and instantly watch a scheduled TV show they may have missed. Telkom is making digital TV functionality available to all.”
Besides the SABC channel, users of the platform will have a host of other content to look forward to, according to Maseko. This will include comedy shows, lifestyle content and music for the youth.
“Telkom was a natural partner with whom to build a new platform for developing and disseminating South African content,” said Madoda Mxakwe, the SABC CEO.
“The SABC has a wealth of content — both acquired and produced by local talent — that we broadcast on our free-to-air channels. Through the new streaming channel, we will further promote universal access to popular SABC content for audiences and customers, in an affordable manner and with ease of access on mobile.”
The streaming platform will provide local producers with more opportunities to showcase their work, work which will have more longevity than on traditional media platforms, according to Mxakwe.
Mxakwe said the TelkomONE partnership is part of the SABC’s overall strategy to become a competitive multichannel and multiplatform public content provider.
The TelkomONE app is immediately available for download from your smartphone app store or it can be used on computers via www.telkomone.tv
Picture: TelkomONE website