The descriptions provided in chapter five lay the groundwork for undertaking a financial analysis of the per-minute costs of programming, both for radio and television. Of course, the two are very different. Each is, therefore, presented below.

Television production costs can most easily be mapped on a continuum running from production to acquisition, as follows:

Click here to see model

Each of these can be broken down into various sub-categories, as is done in the tables below. In addition to this, though, other basic costs need to be taken into account when calculating broadcasting costs. These are:

•    The basic per-minute cost of broadcasting, which covers the general institutional overheads of the SABC and the costs of transmission. This figure remains constant, and should therefore be distinguished from the charges for buying airtime, which vary according to how many viewers are likely to be watching at a given time.
•    Costs of audience research and evaluation.
•    Costs of general educational advisers and planners.
•    Overhead costs for the education department at SABC television.

Using the above information, the following financial assumptions have been compiled for educational television broadcasting (p.m. denotes per-minute costs). Written descriptions follow some of these.

This cost is not based on reliable data, as this was not received from the SABC. Therefore, a very rough figure has simply been added. To ensure that the potential incorrectness of this figure does not distort the calculations provided below, this cost has been isolated and added to the end of a draft budget.

This refers to the range of options available to the SABC with regard to the purchasing of material. A distinction has been made between commercial and non-commercial products, to take account of the possibility the some materials designed specifically for commercial purposes (such as films or certain documentaries) may be worth broadcasting for educational purposes in South Africa. These are invariably more expensive. The R50.00 per-minute cost added for archive material is intended to incorporate the costs of viewing and evaluating the appropriateness of archive material.

We have costed the purchase of library material – large collections of programmes available for purchase en masse - separately, as it incorporates two distinct costs. The first involves purchasing the rights to use a library of programming material, the second sifting through that to identify appropriate material for broadcast. We have assumed that the average number of hours one might use from a library is 100, and have thus amortized the initial purchase cost across this many hours.

Assemble-editing is intended to refer to a fairly straightforward process of assembling large blocks of programming to be broadcast together, with the primary purpose of facilitating easy recording. The costs here are for the selection and editing process.

Mediation of existing programming and compilation of new programmes using existing inserts are included as different categories to allow for differentiation between different intentions. Many existing programmes are suitable for educational use with minor changes or with some additions that re-contextualize the original programme. In many cases, however, an entirely new programme is desired, but there is sufficient material in existing programmes to create this new programme predominantly from existing material. The latter, of course, requires more conceptual work to create a successful educational resource.

This option is similar to compiling new programmes using existing material, with the exception that using stock footage requires purchase of additional rights for material used. This makes it more expensive than the previous option. Its advantage, of course, is that there is far greater choice from stock footage, while there is also greater flexibility about how this footage can be used.

The above table highlights the basic options available when producing programmes from scratch.

Service packaging is necessary for most educational broadcasts. This refers to the broadcasting around individual programmes, which might include combinations of continuity presentation, voice-over and graphics, or animation.

As we have indicated in chapter five, alteration of programme sound tracks will be essential to the successful implementation of the school-based service, but it is also time-consuming and difficult. The above table highlights the major choices for sound track alteration, each of which incorporates the cost of translating scripts. The more dubbing there is that involves characters talking on screen, the more complicated the task and, hence, the greater the cost.

In addition to the above costs, we have factored in line items for the above items. These have been calculated as a percentage of sub-totals, to allow for scaling up and down according to the size of the school-based service.

The above assumptions can now be used to provide rough estimates of the costs of providing a school-based service. In calculating these costs, we have assumed that there will be two hours of broadcasting every weekday, as well as two screenings of Educator Express on weekends. The costing has also taken into account broadcasts of the Learning Channel, both during weekdays and on weekends. We have assumed that there will be two and a half minutes of service packaging per hour of broadcasting and between one and a half and four minutes of advertising. From this, the following can be extrapolated.

The above calculations draw directly on the recommendations made in chapter five about appropriate types of programming. They lead to the construction of the following budgets, the first of which provides a total cost and the second of which excludes the cost of the Learning Channel.

Because radio will not be offering a discrete school-based service during 1999, we have not conducted a costing exercise such as the one presented above. Nevertheless, we have compiled a schedule of the costs of radio broadcasting, which illustrates clearly how different costing is for radio and television. Particularly, it will be noted that costs are not included for acquiring materials. This is because purchasing existing programming is not really a viable option. Radio programmes are generally produced for local circumstances, and thus are not transportable. Minor possibilities do exist for acquiring locally produced materials, but even then only when the acquiring station is involved in the production.

The costs provided in the following table include the costs of maintaining a central education radio unit at the SABC, as well as all costs of production. The do not, however, include costs of transmission. Given the difference in ranges of broadcasting reach, as well the difference in infrastructure at different stations, the costs of transmission range from R300.00 to R800.00 per minute. This would include transmission, studio costs, station personnel, and overheads.

In addition to this broad schedule of costs, Radio has also constructed a general cost per minute of educational programmes, based on the cost of producing a half-hour programme. This is as follows: