CSA is extremely disappointed in South Africa's public broadcaster.
Last week I reported that the SABC and SABC3 planned to dump South African cricket test match coverage at the end of the year for the first time ever because the SABC started negotiations too late.
The SABC, also pleading poverty, also balked at the rights fee to carry the matches, and was unwilling to pay even the R15 million which was half of the R30 million licensing rights fee in 2011. On Monday I got word that at least one test match would be broadcast live, with the possibility of more.
Now I can report that the SABC will broadcast all T20 matches live on SABC3 and all the one day international matches live on SABC3 as well. The test matches in January 2013 and in March 2013 will not be broadcast but will be shown as highlight packages on SABC3.
In a statement the SABC says the broadcaster is "pleased to announce the broadcast of the New Zealand tour to South Africa. After careful consideration of the options before us, the SABC decided to broadcast the matches."
The statement made no mention of the intense haggling behind the scenes where the SABC scoffed at paying for the cricket rights as public anger and resentment started building over the weekend as viewers realized they are going to be missing out on the annual live cricket coverage unless it is watched on DStv's SuperSport.
SABC3 will now broadcast all the T20 matches live on 21 December, 23 December and 26 December. SABC3 will also be showing love allthe ODI matches on 19 January, 22 January and 25 January.
"The decision to broadcast these matches is a clear indication that we take our mandate seriously and we are cognisant that the public of South Africa deserve to see their cricket team which is rated number one in the world in all formats of the game," says the SABC.
"The SABC will continue to serve the public of South Africa and be true to their mandate of educating, informing and entertaining them."
The CSA in a statement says that "we are happy that we've managed to come to an agreement with the SABC, but we are disappointed that the tests will receive limited coverage."
"Although we are committed to the free-to-air broadcaster as part of our development mandate, we took a substantial cut in our broadcast rights fee to ensure we can take cricket to the South African public," says Jacques Faul, the acting CSA chief executive in a statement.
