The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has not arranged to meet the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to discuss the rights to televise local soccer matches, both parties said on Wednesday.
”We’ve received nothing official from them, so I can’t comment,” said PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza.
He could not say if negotiations with the SABC could reverse the PSL’s decision to award pay channel SuperSport the rights to broadcast league matches.
On Tuesday, the SABC board called for an urgent meeting between the public broadcaster’s management and the PSL over its controversial decision.
Khoza announced last Thursday that SuperSport had been awarded the R1-billion exclusive right to broadcast PSL soccer matches for the next five years.
SABC spokesperson Kaiser Kganyago said the broadcaster had not approached the PSL to arrange such a meeting.
Meanwhile, Kganyago refused to comment on a story in the Sowetan newspaper that sports presenter Robert Marawa was fired over the PSL television-rights saga.
”I don’t think we want to comment on that matter … we need to deal with our internal issue first,” Kganyago said.
The newspaper reported that Marawa, who was a sports presenter on SABC radio station Metro FM and also works for SuperSport, was fired on Monday.
On his radio show, Marawa had invited SuperSport boss Imtiaz Patel and the PSL to defend the broadcasting rights deal.
He was fired after a meeting with SABC head of commercial radio Bob Mabena and Metro FM manager Leo Manne, the report said. — Sapa