The public broadcaster will only be showing 8 out of the 32 Afcon matches which kicks off on Saturday as live matches. The rest of the 24 matches will be showed delayed live.
The SABC which had to decide between dumping or rescheduling Generations, or showing the soccer matches live after the Africa Cup of Nations suddenly changed kick-off times to co-incide with SABC1's most profitable primetime block, decided to stick with what made more money sense - its hugely successful soap.
''Eighty per cent of our revenue comes from advertisements during soaps like Generations which makes more money than football,'' says Kaizer Kganyago, SABC spokesperson.
''The games are taking place during primetime and the decision was based on a scheduling issue.'' He said the SABC is ''accountable in making a profit'' and that the SABC ''have to strike a balance for other viewers who don't follow soccer''.
''We are free-to-air television and we cannot just throw money away, but that does not mean that we didn't buy the rights to screen 32 Afcon matches. The matches will be screened delayed live.''
