CGI dira completes nationwide digital upgrade for all of South African Broadcasting Corporation’s radio stations
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) fully integrated CGI dira radio solutions across its entire portfolio of 19 radio stations. As one of the largest IT and business consulting companies in the world and as the leading newsroom and radio solutions provider in Europe, CGI successfully upgraded all of SABC's 19 radio stations to the full dira solutions suite. Multiple workflow components of the SABC radio network broadcasts are now controlled by dira software—offering increased reliability, efficiency, and revenue protection.
The challenge
Established in 1936, the SABC provides a range of distinctive, creative and top-quality programs in all 11 official languages across its radio and television portfolio, featuring both public service and commercial offerings. With each station presenting a unique set of requirements, the SABC needed to ensure a smooth exchange of information and materials between radio stations.
“The digital transition with dira has been transformative to our country-wide network of radio stations. It has led to a better quality on-air product across all the 19 stations, while its adaptive commercial playout technology has eliminated human error in ad placements on our commercial radio stations and has helped us to achieve an 80% reduction in penalties from our commercial partners. It has also proven to be adaptable to our more complicated public service stations with more diverse programming formats.”
- Nada Wotshela, Group Executive of SABC Radio
CGI dira provides a unified working environment across all stations that extends from broadcast production and the exchange of material and programs, through broadcast scheduling, to on-air playout, post-production, and archiving.
How CGI helped
Installed at each of the SABC stations, the dira solution suite not only adapts to each station’s specific needs, it also provides continuity across the organization and encompasses the entire production workflow required for media management in radio journalism. It provides a unified working environment across all stations that extends from broadcast production and the exchange of material and programs, through broadcast scheduling, to on-air playout, post-production, and archiving.
Using dira’s full suite of radio solutions
Among the dira solutions the SABC will be using throughout its radio environment—from sales, sports, news and current affairs to education and drama—include Onair Player, Highlander, Scheduler, and Startrack. Additionally, through the dira Multisite module, a station in Cape Town will be able to access content from a station in Johannesburg 1400km away. With dira Scotty, editors can contribute material to the stations using iOS or Android applications or via a web browser, ensuring maximum flexibility throughout the production chain.
“Digital transformation is vital for the future of radio and will ensure that SABC can not only maintain the vital services that SABC offers to the many South African communities, but that they can continue to thrive and evolve in the future.”
- Michael Thielen, Vice-President, CGI Radio Solutions
