The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will not be broadcastingany of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is set to take place in France, where Banyana Banyana will make their first appearance on Saturday evening.
In a statement, the public broadcaster says it was not in a financial position to bid for the rights. It will, however, broadcast the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament starting in Egypt later this month (from 21 June until 19 July 2019), after securing the Free-To-Air rights in 2016.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has, however, increased the participating teams from 16 to 24, starting with the upcoming Afcon 2019 tournament.
This has resulted in the increase of matches from an initial number of 32 to a total of 52 matches.
Ten SABC African Language Stations (ALS) (Umhlobo Wenene FM, Ukhozi FM, Ligwalagwala FM, Lesedi FM, Motsweding FM, Mughana Lonene, XKFM, Phalaphala FM, Thobela FM and Ikwekwezi FM) and Radio 2000 will broadcast 32 matches live inclusive of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final match. trufm and RSG will carry live reports.
Television channel, SABC 3 will broadcast a total of 24 matches, nine matches being live including all Bafana-Bafana games, the semi-finals and final matches. 15 matches will be broadcast on a delayed basis.
The channel will make a few changes to its schedule between the 16h00 – 00h00 time-slots to accommodate the soccer tournaments.
SABC 3 titles such as EFC Magazine, #WTF, Top Billing, World of Dance, Bollywood Movie, Mela, Hectic on 3, Afternoon Express, Harry and Keeping Score will not be aired on days where soccer games will be played. The channel will communicate the schedule changes to its audience.
Heavy downpour in Deauville but the show goes on for @Banyana_Banyana in their final training session ahead of the clash with Spain tomorrow in the #fifawwc @FIFAWWC #DareToShine #BanyanaBanyana #LeMomentDeBriller @SAFA_net @bafana_bafana pic.twitter.com/f5rZzVL57f
— Banyana_Banyana (@Banyana_Banyana) June 7, 2019
