SABC 3
SABC 3, also branded as S3, is a South African free-to-air television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages.
Country
SABC Television Park, Uitsaaisentrum, Johannesburg, 
South Africa
1991 (as NNTV)
4 February 1996 (as SABC 3)
TopSport Surplus (TSS)
National Network Television (NNTV) (1991-1996)
Channel depends on nearest Sentech repeater
As of June 2018, it has been broadcasting in high definition.
In April 2021, the channel rebranded and is stylised as S3.
History[edit]
On 1 January 1982, two services were introduced, TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, both targeted at a Black urban audience.[2] 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, where the two networks handed over to the new service until being shut down.[3]
In 1991, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were combined into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values).[4] 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.[5]
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 moved its main news from 8pm to 7pm on 7 April 2003. It was rumoured that the new time was to compete with e.tv's main bulletin, which was on at the same time, but these rumours were denied by Jimi Matthews, who had moved from the rival broadcaster.[6]
