SABC 3

SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own reality and talk shows and had lately introduced a new series called “The Estate”.

As of June 2018, it has been broadcasting in high definition.

In April 2021, the channel rebranded and is stylised as S3.

History

On 1 January 1981, two services were introduced, TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a Black urban audience. The main channel, now called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. In 1986, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, using the channel shared by TV2 and TV3, which stopped broadcasting at 9:30pm.

In 1991, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were combined into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values). A third channel was introduced known as TSS, or TopSport Surplus, TopSport being the brand name for the SABC's sport coverage, but this was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an educational, non-commercial channel, in 1994.
In 1996, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels with the aim of making them more representative of the various language groups. These new channels were called SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3.

SABC3 inherited many of its programs from TV1, South Africa's apartheid-era "white" channel. SABC 3 is targeted at South Africa's affluent English-speaking community; the channel's primary target market is viewers aged 18 to 49. It screens a combination of international programming from the United States and United Kingdom, as well as locally produced soap operas, talk shows and drama series. SABC 3 ranks fourth out of South Africa's five analogue channels in audience ratings.

Programming

SABC3 is the only SABC channel to feature a large proportion of international series. It has deals with studio companies in the US and various television networks in the UK to air some series with a few months' delay from their international airdates.

Soapies, dramas and telenovelas

The channel is known for its longest-running soapie ''Isidingo'', and previously aired local dramas such as'' High Rollers'', and popular international soaps '' Days of Our Lives'' and ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', which SABC3 stopped airing because of financial constraints. This upset viewers fond of the soapie and started a petition to keep the show running. The channel currently offers international dramas such as ''Knightfall'', '' NCIS'', ''House of Cards'', '' MotherFatherSon'', '' Line of Duty'', ''El Chapo'' & '' Killing Eve''. In April 2021, the channel introduced a new local drama "The Estate" as well as three new telenovelas like Orphans Of A Nation, The Bay and The Red Room.

Children and education

The channel has local children's content such as Challenge SOS, Talent on Track, Yum.Me and Hectic on 3, along with and international catalogue of kids and teens entertainment from Disney and Nickelodeon. This includes kids shows such as ''Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'', '' Go Jetters'' and '' My Friends Tigger & Pooh'', as well as teen shows such as ''Victorious'', '' iCarly'', ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', '' Shake It Up'', ''Cory in the House'', '' Girl Meets World'', ''Sam & Cat'', '' Winx Club'', '' Violetta'', '' Polly Pocket'', ''Kuu Kuu Harajuku'', ''Sanjay and Craig'', '' Henry Danger'', '' Nowhere Boys'', '' Noah & Saskia'', '' Spellbinder'', '' Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord'' and ''Hectic on 3''. Unlike its sister channels, SABC 3 has less programming from the SABC Education banner.

Series

SABC3 used to license and produce local versions of international series like NBC's '' The Apprentice'', BBC
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