DFA Board Meeting Agendas

As part of an ongoing effort to keep our members up to date and in touch with what the DFA is doing it was decided at the previous board meeting in October to publish the agenda of every meeting so that our members can see what issues we are tackling and what our current activities are. You are welcome to email your comments or questions on any of the agenda items to info@docfilmsa.com and they will be included in the next board meetings review of the previous meetings minutes.

Here is a copy of November's agenda:

Tuesday 24 November 2009

AGENDA - DFA BOARD MEETING

Date: Tuesday 24th November 2009

Time: 14h00 – 17h00

Meeting will be linked via SKYPE

Venues:

Cape Town – Plexus Films - 6 Vine Street, Gardens

Theresa Meyer: Co Secretary

Dylan Vally: Youth Portfolio

Additional Invited Members Cape Town:

Johannesburg – Underdog Boardroom, 92 3rd Ave, Melville

Marc Schwinges: Treasurer

Pascal Schmitz: Co-Secretary

Additional Invited Members Johannesburg:

KZN:

Not present

Apologies:

Ingrid Gavshon: Co-Chair

Llewelyn Roderick: Deputy Chair - Cape Town

Matome Senyolo: Deputy Chair

Lauren Groenewald – Co-Chair

Absent:

Ayanda Mncwabo: Regional Portfolio

Khalid Shamis: DFA & IPO liaison

Minute Taker CT –

Theresa Meyer

Linking Via Skype at will start exactly at 14h10. Please ensure you have already shared with

“underdog.co.za”.

Timekeeper allocated.

1. Welcome & Apologies - LG & MS – 2 min
2. Review of previous board minutes / action points / updates / member comments or questions
• DTI Rebate & DTI BBEEE Meeting in Cape Town
• Ethiopian Film Festival
• DocloveCapeTown & JHB
• Membership Benefits Update
• Non-Payment letter for members owed monies by SABC
• Calendar of festivals and budget for DTI to sponsor trips
• Research on SABC Local Content
• DFA Facebook Group
• DAC Ministers Meeting
• Save our SABC/ Open Society Foundation Roundtable
• SOS - Name change / NGO re-structure
• South American filmmakers partnership
• Department of Labour meeting with SASFED / IPO
• Member Research
• DFA Members Database status / Directory Lock Off
• IPO status TPA migration push
• TVIEC update
• Regional Profile Update
• Training & Educational Link & Profile
3. NFVF market sponsorship subcommittee feedback
4. DFA applying for funds from both the NFVF and Lottery
5. DFA hosting a funding and distribution seminar
6. NFVF Value charter
7. DFA/WOS IP event on 11&12 December
8. Feedback from Mrac Scwinges on Gauteng Film Friendly event
9. Feedback from Marc Schwinges on presidential meeting with creative industry
10. Feedback from Pascal Schmitz on WoS distribution and funding seminar
11. Other business

GOVERNMENT APPROVES BANK GUARANTEE FOR SABC

MEDIA STATEMENT

GOVERNMENT APPROVES BANK GUARANTEE FOR SABC

Johannesburg, 24 November 2009-The SABC is pleased to announce that the Government has approved its application for a Government Guarantee for R1.473 billion for the corporation.

The Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has stated that the Guarantee will be released in tranches, with a draw down of R1billion available immediately, and the release of the remaining R473 million dependent on the development of a detailed project plan by the SABC committing the public broadcaster to explicit revenue targets and cost cutting measures to enable effective oversight and monitoring of projections by Government. Minister Gordhan has highlighted that these undertakings should be captured in a Shareholder’s Compact to be signed by the new Board of the SABC and the Minister of Communications Siphiwe Nyanda within three months of their appointment to facilitate oversight and monitoring.

The Chairperson of the Interim Board of the SABC says the granting of the Guarantee is evidence of the commitment by Government to public broadcasting in South Africa .

“I would like to thank both the Ministers of Communications and Finance for the support they have given the SABC to assist the Corporation in applying for the Guarantee. The Government Guarantee together with the October approval in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) of an additional R200m will enable the SABC to begin the turnaround to developing a vibrant and viable public broadcasting service responsive to the needs of all South Africans”.

“The SABC incurred a loss of over R900 million at the end of March this year and the application by the Corporation is aimed at both paying back creditors and implementing a turnaround strategy. As stated in Parliament recently, the SABC Interim Board has started the process of identifying cost cutting measures and putting inplace governance systems to guard against wasteful expenditure. It will be up to a new Board to develop in depth strategies to effect a turnaround.”

ENDS

Media Enquries

Kaizer Kganyago

SABC Spokesperson

082 306 8888

FAPACI is having another event, please see details below.

Dear Friend,

Warm greetings to you from all of us here at FEPACI. We know you have all been wondering about the November event. Well here it is!

We have joined forces with one of our stakeholder partners the FEDERATION OF AFRICAN MEDIA WOMEN OF SOUTHERN AFRICA - FAMW-SA in a collaboration to support the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign.

Please click here to find your invite and we look forward to seeing you at the SAB World of Beer on Saturday 28th November 2009 @ 14h.00 as usual in Newtown.


Regards
FoFSA Team
011 836 1528

CTV marches for freedom

Cape Town TV (CTV) will be staging a march on parliament to call on the South African government to keep community television on air. The march will take place at 10am on Wednesday, 25 November 2009. It will start at Keizersgracht Street (opposite the Castle) and end at the gates of Parliament.

The state’s broadcast regulator, ICASA, intends to switch off all community television stations next year as part of its digital broadcasting migration strategy. ICASA has not allocated any other frequencies for CTV to use and now plans to take the channel off air early next year to make way for cell phone TV.

But this is only one of the factors that directly threaten the existence of CTV and the other community television stations in SA. One of these is the thorny issue of government funding for the sector. Without government subsidies, it is very difficult for community organisations to sustain this form of public service broadcasting.

Certain costs are particularly problematic for community television, the main instance being transmission costs. Non-profit community TV stations are charged commercial rates for transmission facilities by the state-owned signal provider, Sentech.

Recently CTV had to go off air because it could not afford to pay Sentech. Says CTV Station Director Karen Thorne, “Through the Cape Town community’s support the station is now back on air, but this is not a long-term solution. Government funding is vital for this type of public service television to survive without being commercialised.

“CTV supports the Public Service Broadcasting Fund proposed in the Public Service Broadcasting Bill, but it could take years for community TV to benefit from it. In the meantime community television stations are under constant threat of being cut off.”

“An aggravating factor is that community TV operators are licensed through a one year ‘temporary’ license, which means they are not seen as secure long-term investment prospects and consequently struggle to attract financial support. The licensing period must be longer for community TV to be sustainable.”

In addition to these problems, community TV stations are not protected during and after the migration to digital terrestrial television broadcasting. To add insult to injury, government structures have no clear plan in place to secure community TV’s space on the airwaves after 2011 when all the other television broadcasters have made the transition to digital broadcasting.

CTV is demanding the following actions from government:

• That CTV is not switched off when ICASA licenses a new cell phone TV operator next year but that a frequency is allocated to carry the channel.
• The creation of a interim support fund for existing community TV stations, in addition to the speedy implementation of the Public Broadcasting Fund.
• That Sentech provides CTV with a good quality signal and transmission for free or at a significantly reduced rate.
• That community TV is protected during and after the migration to digital terrestrial television. •

Comments CTV Chairperson Martin Jansen, “Most citizens are simply not aware of these threats to community television and have not made their voices heard. If we want to save community TV as the people’s voice, it is critical that we stand up for our right to communicate. We call on all citizens to join us in the march to parliament on Wednesday.”

For further information, contact CTV Chairperson Martin Jansen on 021 447 2727 or Karen Thorne on 021 447 8377.