eNCA Africa faces possible closure

Johannesburg - eNCA's pan-Africa television division is to be reviewed with its closure a possibility, owner Sabido Investments said on Friday.

"Sabido Investments regrets to announce that it has decided to commence discussions with affected staff which may lead to the closure of two loss making parts of its business," spokesperson Vasili Vass said in a statement.

"The first affects the natural history unit and the factual division of Sabido Productions. These operations have been incurring sustained losses for many years and do not appear to have the potential to turn around in the future."

The second was eNCA's pan-Africa television division.

The review had been forced by the closure of the news broadcast on the Sky digital platform in the UK last year and the cessation of news broadcasts to the UK's Africa Channel early this year.

The review would determine whether the channel had any other viable routes to operational sustainability, and whether the Africa news service was sustainable as a separate business division.

"Discussions with personnel have commenced in both these areas. Where possible, staff have already or will be absorbed into other areas of the business where vacancies or new opportunities have opened up," Vass said.

"Where this doesn't happen, retrenchments will have to be considered."

He said such moves within any business were difficult for everyone, but the fundamentals of the group were good and Sabido looked forward to positive growth for the group as a whole.