ANDISIWE MAKINANA and MURRAY WILLIAMS
Staff Writers
MILLIONS of South African rugby fans, who cannot afford pay-channel DStv, will see just more than half of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) matches live on SABC because the national broadcaster will show only selected matches.
The tournament kicks off in New Zealand in September.
The SABC will broadcast 60 percent of the matches live, and 15 percent delayed (28 live and seven delayed). That is 35 of the 48 matches: 20 pool matches live, South Africa’s four matches and five delayed; two quarter-finals live and one delayed; one semi-final live and one delayed, and the final live.
SABC viewers will miss out on about a quarter of the games, including a quarter-final and a semi-final live. No mention is made of the third-place play-off.
SABC viewers will be shown 22 highlights packages of 48 minutes each.
Last month, it was reported that the SABC was struggling to secure broadcast rights for Bafana Bafana’s important Afcon qualifier against Niger in Niamey in September.
And during the Cricket World Cup in February and March, the broadcaster again drew viewers’ ire, with many saying the SABC’s coverage was not up to scratch.
In one instance, the SABC showed an old match while a live quarter-final was under way.
Communications Minister Roy Padayachee revealed in a written reply to a parliamentary question yesterday that the SABC would not be airing all the RWC matches.
“We are, however, committed to showing rugby and as such have focused all our resources into ensuring we show all of South Africa’s games… including, but not limited to, the opening game, two of the quarter-finals, a semi-final and the final, all live.”
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the broadcaster had a contract that promised that “we are showing 75 percent of the games, including the games in which South Africa will be playing”.
DStv’s SuperSport will broadcast all 48 matches live.
DStv’s subscriber base in South Africa is estimated at 3.5 million, according to online research. However, many of them pay for a limited package which does not include rugby and cricket premium coverage.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s spokesman, Paena Galane, said today the minister had monitored negotiations between the pay channel and the SABC until now, and had urged the SABC and SuperSport to “find themselves… to bring the Rugby World Cup to South Africa”.
Clinton van der Berg, speaking for SuperSport, confirmed that the channel had bought the rights and then sub-licensed them to the SABC.
“We have a very good relationship with the SABC; they pick and choose what they want,” he said.
“We understand rugby’s status within the national interest,” he said, adding that negotiations had been conducted in that spirit.
Padayachee said in Parliament: “As sports fans ourselves, we know that no amount of sport can ever be enough, but we hope that the little that we can provide does satisfy some of the urge.”
He explained that according to the Government Gazette of April 7 last year, the RWC, Super Rugby and Currie Cup tournaments were listed as sports of national interest.
“With the above in mind, it is always the SABC’s intention to provide its key stakeholder, the South African public, with the best sporting programming it can procure and present on its screens,” he said.
Padayachee was responding to a question from the DA’s Niekie van den Berg as to why the SABC had not provided live radio and television coverage of the Springboks’ end-of-year tour to Britain last year.
Springbok outbound tours were not among the events the SABC was mandated to carry on its television and radio platforms, he said.
“However, where possible, finances and negotiations permitting, the SABC does from time to time carry events outside its mandate, particularly events of national interest such as the outbound rugby tours. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the decision taken was that it would not have been prudent to carry the Springbok outbound tour to the UK, finances and rights considered.
“In these difficult financial times, it is often challenging for the SABC to procure all the content it deems fit, and indeed all the content that we know our viewers deserve.”
Padayachee said the SABC did not have the broadcast rights for the end-of-year tour. These were held by SuperSport.
“Without the broadcast rights, we were unable to carry the broadcast live.”