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Cape Town – The SABC will announce that it's returning the 7de Laan omnibus to Sunday afternoons on SABC2 from July following an avalanche of complaints from viewers.
SABC2 viewership on Sundays without the omnibus has been lower the past three months.
While SABC1 has managed to marginally increased its ratings and audience share in 2017, SABC2 is slowly starting to follow south the extremely troubled SABC3 that has flatlined after a massive loss of viewers.
Further viewership erosion is something that SABC2 cannot afford as the struggling public broadcaster, engulfed in a financial crisis, needs to try and hold onto every viewer it possibly can while it tries to grow audience ratings and share.
SABC2 has now placed the 7de Laan omnibus back on its July schedule from Sunday 2 July.
This will be welcome news for 7de Laan viewers who watch it during the week but watch it again on Sundays as "comfort television.
It's also good news for thousands of working class viewers who have been unable to catch any repeat of the Danie Odendaal Productions produced soap following its earlier timeslot move since they're not yet home on weekdays.
Bessie Tugwana, acting chief operating officer (COO) told parliament in late-February that the SABC is "constantly vigilant in terms of how its performing," when she was asked about 7de Laan's timeslot change and said the soap "was declining audiences" over the past year.
In April 2017 the highest rated 7de Laan episode on SABC2 lured 2.31 million viewers (6.8 AR, 25.2 share).
