SABC and SAFA decided to put side all the other issues and put the interests of the nation first to pave the way for the new broadcast deal to be concluded.
This was the confirmation from the SAFA Acting CEO Russell Paul during the press conference at the SABC headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg on Tuesday.
When the previous broadcast deal of SAFA and SABC came to an end in 2018, the two organisations were at loggerheads as the broadcaster wouldn’t move from its R10m offer and the local football mother body was insisting on the R110m demand annually.
But on the eve of the international friendly game in October, the two partners announced a new four-year deal as Paul explains below:
This deal includes Bafana Bafana friendlies and home bound Afcon and World Cup qualifiers, Banyana Banyana friendly matches and qualifiers and other SAFA developmental games and junior national team matches.
Negotiations between the SABC and SAFA took over a year to conclude and in that period, Bafana matches were not shown on SABC channels, with only away matches where the broadcaster had a deal with Caf going to broadcast.
SABC Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Madoda Mxakwe says they were working on a financially viable deal.
During this period, the SABC also had serious financial challenges which saw it also struggling to acquire new and fresh content. It’s understood that the two organisations have had to meet each other halfway from their original offers for this new deal.
Paul and Mxakwe were not ready to disclose the figures involved in this deal.
SABC’s net losses in the past financial year amounted to R482 million, and R410 million of it was the cost of sports rights. Mxakwe says they had to find a way to address this.
He says the SABC and SAFA will now go out together to make sure that this deal is financially viable for both organisations.
Meanwhile, the SABC announced on Monday that the Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and England will be broadcast live on SABC 2 from Yokohama, Japan following an agreement that was reached with Supersport.
Part of this deal includes the third and fourth play-off game between New Zealand and Wales on Friday.
Mxakwe has more on how this deal came about, as they will be showing the 2019 Rugby World Cup matches for the first time.
– Report by Velile Mnyandu
