/ 14 June 2012

Rugby fans lose out on SABC’s new Test pattern

Rugby fans without DStv will miss out on the opportunity to watch the rugby Test match between South Africa and England at the weekend.
Rugby fans without DStv will miss out on the opportunity to watch the rugby Test match between South Africa and England at the weekend.
In a joint statement with SuperSport on Wednesday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) confirmed it would not be showing the remaining two rugby Tests between South Africa and England on TV, but will broadcast them live on radio.
 
“The SABC has decided, as a principle, that for the events that it has rights to [such as in respect of Bafana Bafana] it will broadcast on a live basis,” SABC acting chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng said.
 
“In the case of rugby, SABC does not hold rights and is therefore not able to broadcast these matches on a live basis.”
 
SuperSport International chief executive Happy Ntshingila said the rights holder had offered to sub-licence the TV rights for Springbok games to the SABC. But SuperSport said the public broadcaster was not interested.
 
Broadcast rights
Kaizer Kganyago, SABC spokesperson, told Beeld the SABC and SuperSport could not reach an agreement, and it was for that reason that the first match was not broadcast.
 
SuperSport owns the rights to broadcast all Springbok rugby matches, but may also sell the rights to the SABC, on condition that the corporation does not do live broadcasts of matches.
 
SuperSport had a five year contract with the SABC, which expired in 2010, and has not been renewed, according to SuperSport spokesperson Clinton van der Berg.
 
Since 2010, SuperSport has sold the broadcasting rights to the SABC per match.
 
Kganyago said the SABC had been dissatisfied with certain clauses pertaining to advertising and time constraints. – Sapa