The SABC explains the blackout which hit the South African public broadcaster during the soccer match on Saturday between Bafana Bafana and the Central African Republic (CAR) and left viewers furious as "an act of God" - a thunderstorm disrupted the broadcast.
On Saturday excited viewers saw video of the match until after the national anthems were played. Then a blackout causing viewers to miss the larger part of the first half of the match during which Bafana Bafana won 3-0 in Yaoundé.
Speculation immediately started that the SABC is again involved in a contractual tug of war between the broadcaster and the broadcast rights holder, the French company SportFive, which in the past scuppered several soccer broadcasts due to last minute fights over money.
The SABC says a thunderstorm disrupted the technology. According to the SABC a thuderstorm disrupted the satellite link between Cameroon and Paris from where the signal is being sent first before being uplinked and sent to South Africa. "The thunderstorm disrupted the link and we couldn't get the feed," says the SABC", calling it "an act of God".
"This is an act of God whcih we could not have done anything about," says the SABC. We use satellite to get audio and video so we're happy it came back and we could finish the game."
