Telkom handing TelkomONE over to the SABC, effective immediately

At the end of 2020, the SABC and Telkom launched TelkomONE. This was a streaming service dedicated to letting the SABC claim a cut of streaming revenue in the form of TV licenses the SABC’s collection of content. We’ve heard relatively little about the service in the intervening months but now there’s finally some action. Of a sort.

Telkom has announced that it is transferring TelkomONE as a whole over to the SABC. The country’s public broadcaster will surely do a magnificent job of improving on what is already a mediocre platform.

Remember that TelkomONE?

That previous statement might sound like sarcasm. That’s because it is. Well spotted. But it’s also meant to be taken seriously (as long as you’re directly involved). Telkom’s statement on the transfer claims that “[t]he platform has now matured and [is] ready to scale under the management of the SABC’s broadcasting expertise.”

Telkom CMO Gugu Mthembu said of the SABC, “Their expertise in sourcing and curating relevant content will enrich the current content library for existing and new customers.”

What this means is that TelkomONE is no longer functional, but it’s just for a while. It’s not explicitly stated what the replacement service will be called, but the term SABC+ turns up in Telkom’s transfer announcement. It’s as good a name as any, for now.

It’s also not stated when the SABC will relaunch its now wholly-owned streaming service. “Subscribers will be notified and transferred to the new SABC platform at launch.” In addition, “[e]xisting Telkom One Amp customers with active subscriptions will automatically have access to SABC+ at no additional cost.”

Something called “enhanced content offerings” is also in the offing. All we know about it is that it’ll cost more than a regular subscription. Still, once the SABC gets around to clarifying what it will do with its shiny new streaming service, we’ll let you know.