FEATURE
What it means to be a ‘host broadcaster’: 5 key takeaways
10 April 2026
In the latest episode of PMA’s podcast, we hear from the EBC and SABC, after they were the designated host broadcaster for major events last year.
Every year, there are the major events which draw the attention. The ones where leaders and converge in a single locality to discuss the great geopolitical issues of the day. The subplots, the backroom dealings, the tussles over wording on statements or resolutions.
Such events are essential news stories for media institutions, ensuring the decisions being made, or sometimes are not being made, are being conveyed to their audience back home. The decisions made in those corridors of power affect billions of people and the world that we live in.
What then for the host broadcaster? With a truly global audience, there’s a lot of pressure for the hosts to get it right.
In the most recent episode of PMA’s podcast, Media Uncovered, we explore exactly what it means to be the host broadcaster, the challenges that come with it, and the pressure to get it right. The podcast features a conversation with two individuals well-placed to talk about this topic, as they both lead public broadcasters that had the responsibility of being a host broadcaster: Nomsa Chabeli, Group CEO of the SABC, which hosted the G20 Summit 2025, and Braulio Ribeiro, Director of Engineering and Operations at the EBC, which hosted COP30.
Here are the five key takeaways from the conversation.
1. There’s a lot of responsibilities that comes with being the ‘host’
Being the designated ‘host’ broadcaster carries with it several responsibilities for the media institution.
There is the technical responsibility to provide the live feed for media organisations worldwide: “It was just not about ensuring that we broadcast to South Africans or the African continent, but it was about the world feed,” Chabeli said, “and at a technical level, it really required the highest standard of reliability in broadcast engineering.”
The EBC was also responsible for the set up and running of the international broadcast centre (IBC), making sure the workstations were all set up and suitable for all types of media: print, radio, TV, and digital.
It’s also on the host broadcaster to deliver the official recordings: “The COP held more than 2,000 activities during 15 days”, said Ribeiro. “We generated almost 900 hours of video recording during the COP. And all this material was delivered to the United Nations to be archived for future reference and research by countries and delegations.” And it was on the SABC to ensure there were translations of the events into other languages.
To deliver such an immense operation, EBC employed over 300 people, nearly half of whom were hired specifically for COP. There was also additional funding on offer for both the EBC and SABC, although Chabeli said for the SABC, it wasn’t quite enough to cover the entire expense of the event.
Listen to Nomsa Chabeli and Braulio Robeiro on Media Uncovered
2. Editorial responsibility to tell the story
Being a host broadcaster also carries with it an editorial responsibility to ensure that the narrative of the event is being told accurately and impartially. “That’s where the importance of public broadcasting comes in, because our teams really worked hard to ensure the summit’s major discussions, whether around economic development, global cooperation, climate changes, anything that was discussed was both contextualised for both international audiences and also South Africans at home,” said Chabeli.
Riberio highlighted that the bigger picture is also relevant: “This event is held in a city, in a country, in a specific moment of this country. … So it’s not just a camera showing national leaders talking and talking. There is a story behind all these events. And of course, it’s an opportunity to show our countries, to show our culture, to show our cities. For example, COP 30 was held in Belém do Pará. That’s a city in the north of Brazil, it’s not a large city, it’s a mid[-sized] city in the beginning of the Amazon rainforest. And all this is part of the broadcasting of the story of the event.”
3. An opportunity to showcase your skills
Given the huge global interest these events carry, being the host also provides a chance to demonstrate technical and editorial qualities as well as professional standards.
“We saw this as not just an opportunity to not only deliver a world class broadcast, but also to showcase the strength of South African journalism and broadcasting experience,” said Chabeli. “And when we received the feedback – not just from our own government, who were really quite happy with the quality and the stand that we upheld throughout the summit – but it was also the feedback from the other broadcasters some of them being public [and] commercial broadcasters and having worked with us and they really commended us on our professionalism and the fact that we were able to fully deliver to the global feed and in terms of our service level agreements.”
This goes, not just for other media companies, but for the citizenry as well. In Brazil, Riberio said some sections of society “believe that competence and quality only exist in the private sector. So in a project like this, we have a chance to carry forward, help to show that is not true, that public service broadcasting can deliver quality and great achievements when it’s asking to us to help production and make these great events.”
4. Utilising different forms of content distribution
Previously, producing content as a host broadcaster would have been a purely linear TV and radio mindset. “But it’s no longer like that,” Chabeli said. “We must think in a multi-platform, multi-screening world.” SABC had three dedicated studios especially built to serve their news channel and their streaming platform, SABC+. Chabeli said their streaming platform had a massive boost during the event, and they also launched a specific channel, dedicated purely to the event.
For COP, the EBC said they found particular success in making short content, specifically for social media platforms, and what is most engaging on these platforms isn’t the plenaries or the big set piece events, but rather the behind-the-scenes look at the conference: “the encounters, the handshaking, all [these] kinds of materials generate [a] very great interest in our audience.”
5. Things will always go wrong – so planning and a good team are essential
“The reality is, anything can happen,” Chabeli said.
“We have a lot of situations, of setbacks and unforeseen critical situations.,” said Ribeiro.
And while neither were too keen to divulge just what those hiccups were, they are an inevitable part of being the host broadcaster. What’s perhaps more important is having a good team to overcome those challenging moments.
“The success of these broadcasts ultimately rests on expertise, on professionalism and commitment of the individuals who bring that to life,” Chabeli said. “So that investment in people is something that we should never undermine. It’s not just about ensuring that you’ve got the latest broadcast platforms, but ensure that you’ve got the people who are going to deliver the event.”
Braulio’s advice: “Choose the best of your team, choose the best suppliers, the best partners. The people, the staff are the most important of a project like this.”
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