| Bop TV | |
| Country: | Bophuthatswana (until 1994) South Africa (1994–2003) |
| Area: | Bophuthatswana (until 1994) South Africa (1994–2003) |
| Owner: | Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation |
| Language: | English |
Bop TV was a television station owned by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation, which operated from 1983 to 2003. Initially a part of the black homeland of Bophuthatswana, the channel found its foothold by means of signal overspill, becoming an attractive alternative to the existing SABC and later M-Net channels. Following the end of Apartheid it was integrated to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, after which it shut down.
Commencing operations in on 31 December 1983,[1] it primarily transmitted imported programmes in an unedited form, allowing all comical references to black people to be aired. The station transmitted on the UHF band.[2]
In the apartheid era, a sizeable number of white people watched Bop TV, which offered a wider variety of entertainment and current affairs programming than the state-controlled South African Broadcasting Corporation, despite attempts to confine the signal to black areas such as Soweto.[3] It was strongly recommended that the signals were to be limited to areas with a high Tswana population. Unlike the two SABC networks available at the time (TV1 and in the case of eastern South Africa TV3), which broadcast on the VHF band, Bop TV broadcast exclusively over the UHF band (channel 37).[4] Furthermore, both Bop TV and the SABC have set up a rule where both sides wouldn't broadcast opinions contrary to the opposite side. If Bop TV violated those laws, the SABC would shut down the network. Within three months of its founding, Bop TV rapidly overtook the SABC channels in terms of ratings.[5] [6] The channel was set up by Tim Ellis, who also assisted in the creation of the SABC's TV4 network (which went live after the 9pm closing time for both TV2 and TV3) and later M-Net.[7]
The signals were restricted to within Bophuthatswana in 1986 following the rapid success of its broadcasts by means of overspill to parts of South Africa; the restrictions were put to place after the ITU recommended that the station considered as a "foreign broadcaster" in South Africa. There, the overspill was limited to Soweto and Pretoria.[8] Bop TV started satellite broadcasts in 1988,[9] using a satellite from the Intelsat IV fleet for that purpose.[10] The channel was even carried in the early years of cable television in Israel,[11] being removed over concerns due to its American imports and the refusal of the Israeli cable companies to pay for its reception.[12]
By 1990, Bop TV was received by some 350,000 television sets in its coverage area, for a daily schedule of nine hours. The channel was already interested in buying new series such as The Simpsons (before even premiering on M-Net[13]) and The Arsenio Hall Show, but the prices for such were expensive. Its executives were in screening sessions from numerous production companies, including American juggernauts.[8]
A post-apartheid reshuffling of the SABC in 1996 resulted in the former bantustan broadcasters being integrated into it.[14] [15] This infuriated the bosses of Bop Broadcasting.[16] [17]
In 1997, the State Reorganisation Act led to the creation of subsidies for the former bantustan broadcasters that were now under the SABC's control. The said subsidy ended in November 2001. From now onward, the SABC was now funding Bop Broadcasting in its entirety.[18] In 2003, the SABC announced that they would shut the channel down on 31 July.[19]