Kevan Jones with the SACIA team
-- --
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Pinterest
Since 2009, the South African Communication Industries Association (SACIA) has worked hard to uphold its mandate to promote the adoption of professional standards and ethical business practices within the broadcast communications industry across Southern Africa.
Executive director of SACIA, Kevan Jones has been on this journey since its inception. However, Jones insists that the spirit of the association dates back to a decade earlier in the nineties, when he was involved in setting up an informal group of broadcast engineers, who would get together and share insights on technology trends impacting the South African industry.
-- --
We'd arrange studio visits, share information and publish research on technology applicable to the broadcast industry. Most of the people involved in that early group are now retired, but Kim Smith from Sasani and George Durant from Red Pepper are both still active as leaders in our Broadcast Industry Council. Of course we've expanded dramatically since those early days but our core vision remains the same: to promote the adoption of professional standards and ethical business practices in the communications industry across Southern Africa, shares Jones.
This, they do by aligning themselves with similar associations around the world. They have also formed formal cooperation agreements with the IABM, AVIXA (previously InfoComm International), the International Moving Image Society (previously BKSTS) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
Through the years the association has been a member-driven association, bringing passionate people of the industry together through various activities.
Jones expands: Our members are regular participants in some of the big international trade shows and we make sure we host regular events which allow them to share their knowledge and experience, says Jones. We also deliver regular training in collaboration with some of the world's leading training providers - providing access to members on the trends and technologies shaping the future of the broadcast and AV industry.
The IP and Networks course
SACIA has fully supported the transition from linear television to non-linear broadcasting. With this in mind, the association recently introduced the IP and Networks course, which takes a look at bespoke software and network interconnects based upon Internet Protocol (IP).
Jones comments: The technologies being used in the broadcast industry are fundamentally changing from bespoke and costly tools that perform specialist tasks, to IP-based technology that's way more affordable.
Whilst the benefits of IP technology are real, there are real challenges in integrating IP and network technologies into a traditional broadcast environment. Our new IP and networks course is designed to assist broadcasters making this transition.
The first edition of the three-day course commenced in February this year, and covered the core fundamentals representing this network infrastructure for interconnections in a file based or streaming environment. Schedules of upcoming training dates are available on the SACIA website.
Redesigning old courses for future advancements
Apart from the new addition in IP, the association felt that they needed to redesign some courses to better address the ever-changing industry, and to tackle the latest developments and challenges faced by their members.
Our AV industry training has been revised to better address the needs of the South African market, and our broadcast industry courses are in a constant state of development as new technology standards are introduced However, we are also expanding our IP and Networks course to include a practical component which has been missing in previous deliveries, shared Jones.
The association has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tshwane University of Technology's Arts Faculty. With this collaboration, the association aims to deliver even more professional development courses in partnership with the University. The deal will also help contribute to the development of the university's curriculum in ensuring that it is relevant to the current needs of the industry.
Irrespective of all the changes and additions to their course offerings, the Broadcast and Media Workflows course continues to be a firm favourite, shares Jones, he anticipates that the course will remain the leading course for the year 2018.
Train the trainer initiative for veterans
As more and more established industry professionals reach their golden years and are thinking of retiring from the industry; SACIA insists that they should not hang their hats and deprive the world of their distinctive skills and well of wisdom. These professionals can now contribute to the industry through structured mentorship or by providing training programmes.
A three-day course that includes theory and experiential learning is given to these future trainers who have become experts in areas such as live sound, audio-visual, event safety, cinematography, outside broadcast, rigging, broadcast operations, lighting design and animation.
The programme is really aimed at subject matter experts who are willing to share their knowledge and experience. We are actively looking to increase the range of short courses we're able to offer the market. One of our objectives is to develop and deliver more short-courses aimed at the freelance community and anyone interested in becoming a trainer is a candidate for this course, shares Jones.
Since the first course in May last year, the programme now boasts 50 professionals who have completed the programme.
The course is registered with the EDTPSETA (unit standard 117877) and once the participant has successfully completed their assessment they'll
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
09/05/2025
Capitol Broadcasting Company welcomed Warren Thomas as the new Vice President an...
09/05/2025
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Studio Technologies said the Harvard University athletics department has integrated Dante-enabled equipment from the vendor into its broadcast ...
09/05/2025
NEW YORK ITN, a provider of a local linear supply side platform, and Magnite, a independent sell-side advertising company, have announced that they working toge...
09/05/2025
LEEDS, U.K. Nugen Audio has launched a new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck and offered up quotes from technologists working at places like Netflix p...
09/05/2025
AJA I/O Gear: The Heart of Broadcast Solutions' VEGO Mobile Editing Solution
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
When working remotely on broadcas...
09/05/2025
What do they teach in an Advanced Adobe After Effects Course?
Roland Kahlenberg May 8, 2025
0 Comments
There aren't many advanced After Effects co...
09/05/2025
Larry Jordan Sits with Trevor Morgan of OpenDrives at NAB 2025
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
Trevor Morgan, COO of OpenDrives, shares how the co...
09/05/2025
Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates For the first time, BPMI will bring Berklee-affiliated artists and students to the ...
09/05/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
In the season finale of The Late Late Show, ...
09/05/2025
My Eurovision Party 2025 - join in on the fun with RT Kids!
Eurovision launche...
08/05/2025
A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo co...
08/05/2025
As expected, continued weak demand from key sales markets and declining economic...
08/05/2025
A new three-part series is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One
(Image: The Christie Archive Trust)
The BBC has announced Agatha Christie's Endless Night, a...
08/05/2025
For skyward-bound operators, training focuses on the unique aspects of flying ISR missions, including the management of onboard surveillance equipment and the e...
08/05/2025
The cable industry has told the Federal Communications Commission it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' proposal to allow broadcasters to us...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Consumer Technology Association has continued its opposition to mandates requiring that NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 tuners be included in new TV sets, sa...
08/05/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real time visualization, has named Paul Maroni as Vice Pres...
08/05/2025
This year's UK Pavilion in hall 5, once again managed by Tradefair, will provide visitors with the unique opportunity to discuss and be involved in cutting ...
08/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Broadcast technologies, designed to support network operators and content provider...
08/05/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has tapped Bill Nardi as vice president of station operations, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations ...
08/05/2025
SEATTLE LumaTouch is partnering with CNN Academy to improve mobile storytelling techniques and support training across all of CNN Academy's training simulat...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association ...
08/05/2025
Senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake has announced that One America News Network (OAN) will provide newsfeed services for fre...
08/05/2025
EdMon Expands as AI-Driven Post Production Workflows Gains Traction in Sweden an...
08/05/2025
Using Luma Mattes in Adobe Premiere Pro
Graham Quince May 7, 2025
0 Comments
This very quick tutorial shows you how to take an RGB clip and apply its ...
08/05/2025
OpenDrives Unveils Free Your Data' Initiative with New Astraeus Cloud-Nativ...
08/05/2025
Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...
08/05/2025
08 May 2025
VEON Shareholders Re-elect Board at 2025 AGM, Founder Augie Fabela ...
08/05/2025
Comedy and entertainment channel U&Dave bring back their #1 ranked programme of ...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils New Premieres Spanning Film and Music
Slick Rick's Victory with Idris Elba a...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Lineup for Inaugural Storytelling Summit
11-Day Industry Event Launches with Tal...
08/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on AI in Workflows, Pushing Boundarie...
08/05/2025
Creating Alternative Brand Experiences: Live Sports in the Age of Fortnite, Meta...
08/05/2025
PGA TOUR's David Piccolo: Advanced Graphics and Virtual Production Tools are...
08/05/2025
Tech Focus: Advancing Immersion in Sports Broadcasting with AR and Virtual Produ...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
Back to All News
Now in Production: Comedy Action Film Husbands in Action'...
08/05/2025
TenneT relies on Arvato Systems for market communication
Energy industry: Impressive market communication know-how and system integration expertise
G tersloh...
08/05/2025
When Taiki Hamamoto, 22, came across a Hanafuda deck at his local game shop, he was intrigued. He had grown up playing the traditional Japanese card game with f...
08/05/2025
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this af...
08/05/2025
RT , in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights has reveale...
08/05/2025
Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next.
Fires in th...
08/05/2025
Calling all wiseguys - 2K's acclaimed Mafia franchise is available to stream...
08/05/2025
As AI use cases continue to expand - from document summarization to custom software agents - developers and enthusiasts are seeking faster, more flexible ways t...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
07/05/2025
SBS and NITV mark National Reconciliation Week with compelling premieres recogni...
07/05/2025
SBS commences search for a new Western Sydney production hub location
7 May, 2025
Media releases
SBS has today launched a Request for Expressions of Intere...
07/05/2025
Warsaw, Poland - April 28, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest March All Screens Video Landscap...
Kevan Jones with the SACIA team
