About Us

The Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) is the National Public Broadcaster of the Republic of Seychelles.

What we Broadcast

The SBC owns and operates 3 Television channels, SBC1, SBC2 and SBC3 and 2 radio services: Radyo Sesel & Paradise FM.

SBC1 is the flagship channel
providing a balanced programming schedule, catering for all of the SBC’s mandates and genres and providing first runs for most programmes

SBC2 is aimed at catering mostly for the entertainment and educational part of the SBC mandate. It is dedicated to Archived Programmes, live broadcast of the National Assembly sessions and live Outdoor Broadcasts including key sporting events.

SBC3 is primarily a special events channel which broadcasts live events such as press conferences. It also carries reruns of other live content aired originally on SBC1 and SBC2.

Radyo Sesel targets a general and mature audience. Up until November, 2022, Radyo Sesel was only available as an AM Service on 1368 kHz (219 metres). Following an extensive infrastructural upgrade, Radyo Sesel service is now available on the following FM frequencies. St. Louis – 99.4 MHz; Anse Soleil – 94.2 MHz; Baie Ste Anne – 106.6 MHz and Fairyland – 91.5 MHz.

Paradise FM was launched in May 1997 as a music station, more oriented towards the youth and also broadcasts 24 hours a day.

We also broadcast free-to-view international television services on our DTT platform, namely; Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, TV5 Monde Afrique, TiVi5, TV5 Lifestyle, CGTN NEWS, CGTN Français, and France 24.

The SBC also has the responsibility of relaying 2 international radio stations namely Radio France International (RFI) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC World Service) on FM.

Governance

The SBC is guided by Article 168 of the Constitution which makes provision for a State-funded but Independent broadcasting corporation.

  1. The State shall ensure that all broadcasting media which it owns or controls or which receive a contribution from the public fund are so constituted and managed that they may operate independently of the State and of the political or other influence of other bodies, persons or political parties.
  2. For the purposes of clause (1), the broadcasting media referred to in that clause shall, subject to this Constitution and any other law, afford opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views.

The SBC Act 2011 establishes SBC as an independent body corporate administered by a board of directors, appointed by the President of the Republic. In 2017, amendments to the SBC Act (SBC Amendment Act 2017) changed the manner in which board members were appointed. The 2017 amendment also introduced the post of Deputy CEO.

The SBC is governed by an independent Board of Directors…

The SBC Board of Directors is made up of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and seven members:

  1. Gérard Lafortune (Chairperson)
  2. Ms Marie Anette Ernesta (Vice-Chairperson)
  3. Ms Evelina Antha
  4. Mr Ralph Lablache
  5. Mr Audric Govinden
  6. Mrs Joana Nicette
  7. Mr Michel Pierre
  8. Mrs Marion Gendron
  9. Mr Harry Tirant

The CEO, Deputy CEO and the Elected Staff representative are ex-officio members of the SBC board.

 

…and managed by a passionate executive team.

 

The SBC’s Executive is headed by the Chief Executive Officer, assisted by a Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Both executives were appointed following recommendations made by the SBC Board to the President, who in turn, consulted with the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chief Justice, as per the stipulations of the SBC Act.

There are 8 sections within the functional structure of SBC.

The final outputs which our audience hears and views on the air is a result of the concerted efforts of these different sections.

News, Current Affairs & Sports

Radio Programmes

Television Programmes

Operations and Support Services

Marketing , Multimedia & Corporate Affrairs

Human Resources & Administration

Finance

Engineering and Technology

Our historic milestones

1945
Hello Seychelles!

Public broadcasting in Seychelles dates from 1945 with a daily one-hour broadcast run by the Department of Education, using the facilities of the Cable and Wireless telecommunications company.

20 July 1965
On air!

Radio Seychelles proper first came on the air from a studio at Union Vale.

1966
A new team for a new station

Eric Passmore was appointed as Manager of Radio Seychelles.

An announcer, Gilbert Confait, and a technician, Dawson Sinon, were employed on a full time basis, while two other persons were employed on a part time basis, Emmy Etienne as announcer and Davidson Chang-Him as technician.

The appointment of a manager brought additional development. Broadcasting time was increased to four and a half hours on weekdays.

Local news items and announcements were broadcast in English and Creole. New programmes were also introduced, such as local advertising in both languages, a programme of lunch time music and another focusing on items of interest to the Creole-speaking listeners which was broadcast late in the evening.

September 1966
Radio Seychelles goes on tour

Outside broadcasts started on the occasion of the opening of the National Show by the Governor. Religious services, choral singing and sports commentaries were also broadcasted.

With the installation of a new Marconi transmitter, Radio Seychelles operated in a medium wave band on a 1 kilowatt power output, transmitting for four and a half hours daily in the three languages, English, French and Creole.

The new equipment resulted in an improvement in both range and quality. Most of the programmes continued to be provided by the BBC Transcription Service. Other programmes were produced locally or sent by international broadcasting organisations.

The staff consisted of a British manager/engineer on I.V.S. Volunteer and six full-time and six part-time local staff.

30 May 1971
A small setback

On Sunday 30th May 1971 at 1.15 a.m an explosion occurred at Radio Seychelles at Union Vale which totally destroyed the transmitters. Damage was estimated at half a million Seychelles rupees. The explosion was caused by a demolition charge placed on the premises.

1977
Our first van! New announcers! More hours!

Radio Seychelles received its first outside broadcasting van which made it possible to introduced live programmes such as tea time music.

The programmes were hosted by different announcers like Douglas Cedras, Jeris Moses and Marie-Cécile Medor, from various places around Mahé.

That same year the hours of broadcasting were extended to 65 hours per week.

A survey was also conducted to inquire about the listening habits and opinions of the listeners of Radio Seychelles.

1980
Video programmes that drive education

A television unit was set up at Bel Eau to produce video programmes for the Ministry of Education.

1 January 1983
Public television is launched

Public television was launched with Radio Television Seychelles (RTS) broadcasting from Hermitage every weekend (Friday to Sunday).

1986
TV for everyone!

By 1986 television programmes were available to some 98% of the population.

1989
Daily TV + CNN broadcasts

RTS television began broadcasting seven evenings a week.

With the installation of a new satellite dish at the TV station at Hermitage two years later, viewers were able to watch CNN relayed by RTS.

1 May 1992
RTS evolves into the SBC

Following the re-introduction of multiparty politics, RTS (a government station run by the Ministry of Information) became the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), a public broadcasting service.

30 May 1997
Launch of Paradise FM

Paradise FM, the FM radio service of the SBC, was launched to complement the AM radio service.

March 2010
Sub Label
A local focus within a global approach

The SBC TV revamped its programming with a stronger focus on locally-produced programmes. This saw the introduction of its seasons-based local production programming and its 24-hour service due to coming on line of its Automated On-Air Playout system.

April 2017
New SBC Board

The SBC Act was amended and a new SBC Board of directors was appointed two months later.

10 August 2017
New leadership at SBC

A new CEO and Deputy CEO was appointed by the President following the recommendation of the SBC Board.

May 2018
Construction begins on SBC House

The Radio Station at Union Vale was demolished to pave the way for the construction of the new SBC House. The Radio team was relocated to the main SBC headquarters at Hermitage.

28 June 2018
SBC TV goes digital

SBC TV went digital with 10 TV channels and 4 radio channels on its free-to-view bouquet.

October 2018
Radyo Sesel started 24-hour broadcast

Radyo Sesel started 24-hour broadcast using a radio control system software allowing advanced programming for longer periods.

May 2019
SBC launched its framework for purchasing local contents

SBC launched its framework for purchasing local contents from independent producers to complement in-house productions and nurture Seychellois talents in the field of TV and Radio productions.

December 2019
The first edition of the annual SBC’s Paradise FM Music Awards

The first edition of the annual SBC’s Paradise FM Music Awards was held to reward artists who topped the charts in the popular weekly show ‘Paradise FM Chart Attack’.

July 2020
The SBC analogue TV service officially 'switched-off'

The SBC analogue TV service which had been in operation since the introduction of public television in Seychelles in January 1983 was officially 'switched-off' completing SBC’s digital switchover process.

October 2020
SBC provides comprehensive coverage of the 2020 Presidential and National Assembly elections

SBC provided comprehensive coverage of the 2020 Presidential and National Assembly elections including making history by hosting the country’s first ever Presidential live debates on the 9th and 16th October.

May 2021
SBC started the implementation of its Policy on Airtime Quota for Political Parties

SBC started the implementation of its Policy on Airtime Quota for Political Parties which gave registered political parties a quota of 13 minutes per month for a TV and a radio programme.

August 2021
Radyo Sesel became available as an additional audio channel on local commercial television platforms

Radyo Sesel became available as an additional audio channel on local commercial television platforms thereby reaching a wider audience.

May 2022
SBC launched ‘Leko’

SBC launched ‘Leko’, its new Audio-on-Demand service available via the Radyo Sesel and Paradise FM mobile applications.