Johannesburg – The SABC has denied allegations from certain quarters of the PSL that the broadcaster is prioritising European leagues and putting the Nedbank Cup on the back seat.
In the last 32 stages of the Nedbank Cup, the SABC carried two matches “delayed live” at 11pm but they managed to show a total of four FA Cup matches live in the same week.
The delayed matches were Mamelodi Sundowns vs Stellenbosch FC on February 3 and the Baroka FC vs Cape Town Spurs.
The PSL are the exclusive broadcast rights holders and have sub-licensed to the SABC, who have an obligation to beam an agreed upon number of matches.
But the SABC being able to broadcast FA Cup matches live when they have an obligation with the PSL didn’t go down well with the league.
“The SABC opted to delay games from the South African equivalent of the FA Cup, the Nedbank Cup, which was offered to them by SuperSport as per their allocation of games in the round of 32,” said our informer.
“The Nedbank Cup fixtures were provided to the SABC on January 26, whereas dates and kick-o times for the FA Cup fixtures were only confirmed after January 26 on behalf of the English FA, meaning the SABC was advised about the Nedbank Cup prior to confirmation of the FA Cup.”
SABC general manager for sport Gary Rathbone said it is always difficult for the broadcaster to get those prime-time 6pm slots midweek.
“For that particular week, the Nedbank Cup was played, we could not get the primetime slots. We are not prioritising the English leagues over our local PSL at all. Financially, it is just not possible to kick out prime-time shows such as Skeem Saam, 7de Laan, Generations: The Legacy and Uzalo.
“The FA Cup matches were played later at night and it was easy for us to show them live. For the last 16 round of the Nedbank Cup this coming weekend, we do not anticipate a problem because the matches will be played over the weekend,” said Rathbone.
“In our sub-licence contract, we have lesser games than in previous seasons. We have 46 league and cup matches to broadcast. Yes, midweek matches are a problem for us but we have a plan going forward.
“The solution is that the SABC will finally have its own sports channel, which should be launched around April. It will be a 24-hour channel and once it is up and running, we will be able to have live PSL matches, Bafana Bafana, the women’s soccer leagues, and other sporting codes such as cricket, rugby, various magazines programmes and highlights packages. This will enable us to cover a whole lot more sports than we are currently able to,” Rathbone said.
By Kgomotso Mokoena.
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