While the South African Football Association (Safa) and the SABC engage in trashy mudslinging after negotiations failed over the broadcast of upcoming Bafana Bafana Afcon matches resulting in a blackout of South Africa's national football team on the public broadcaster, SuperSport has stepped in saying it will broadcast Saturday's match between South Africa and the Seychelles and will be making it available to all DStv subscribers.
In a statement SuperSport says South Africa's vital Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match again the Seychelles on Saturday will be broadcast live on Saturday on SuperSport, and that in an unprecedented move, MultiChoice and SuperSport will make the match available to all DStv subscribers.
Saturday's match between Bafana Bafana and the Seychelles will be broadcast live on SuperSport 4 (DStv 204) and SuperSport 10 (DStv 210), with kickoff at 15:00. SuperSport says that "scheduling the Soweto match across all DStv packages will ensure that as many football fans as possible view the crucial clash".
SuperSport's announcement comes after the ugly implosion of negotiations, followed by as nasty war of words between Safa and the SABC over the broadcasting rights.
Safa says ...
Safa, that started negotiations with the SABC in October 2017, slammed the South African public broadcaster in a statement for the failure to conclude a broadcasting rights agreement, saying the SABC made a "discourteous offer" regarding what the SABC is willing to pay for the broadcasting rights to international football matches Bafana Bafana is playing in inside South Africa.
"Safa rejected this offer outright, and places on record that the offer is so minuscule that it amounts to an effective no offer," says Safa in a statement.
"It is interesting to note that even the apartheid-run SABC of old made a better offer to the association for their rights in this country. Safa further notes that the SABC recently concluded deals with the English Premier League (EPL) to broadcast British football in this country, and on 25 September announced a deal with Cricket South Africa (CSA) to broadcast the T20 League in Sub-Saharan Africa which will include South Africa."
"Safa has been repeatedly told by SABC management that it is in no position to conclude a contract whilst it is in a financial state of disarray."
"However, it is now patently clear that the SABC actions over the past few weeks in signing deals with EPL and CSA, is calculated towards engineering the financial downfall of Safa, which the association will not stand for," says Safa in its statement.
"It is also regrettable that the nation and the football loving public missed out on a great opportunity to witness Banyana Banyana defend their Cosafa title recently."
"Safa offered the SABC the matches (including the final) at no cost, whilst negotiations were taking place - but the SABC declined," says Safa.
"Safa has written to both the SABC and the broadcasting regulator Icasa and informed the ministry of sport and recreation and the ministry of communications, that it wishes the SABC and Icasa to issue Safa with a letter that will relieve the SABC of its obligations towards sports of national interest - football in particular - which would consequently allow SAFA to conclude an agreement with another broadcaster for the Safa rights in line with the commercial value Safa attributes to such rights."
"It is common cause now that Safa, in good faith, allowed the broadcast of the last Afcon qualifier versus Libya to be broadcast by the SABC, despite there being no contract in place - but on the promise and agreement that a contract would be concluded prior to the next Bafana Bafana Afcon qualifier, being the Seychelles match at FNB Stadium on Saturday, 13 October 13 at 15:00."
"With the SABC showing no meaningful interest in concluding an agreement on terms and conditions that would give respect to the Safa rights, the association regrets to inform the public that all future international football matches involving national teams - the U/23, U/20 and U/17 - as well as regional football championships run by Safa, will not be broadcast on any SABC platforms," Safa says in its statement.
According to Safa, the matches in question, among others are all Bafana Bafana 2019 Afcon qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana 2022 World Cup qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana international friendly matches; the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge, involving Bafana Bafana; all Banyana Banyana matches; all U/20 international matches; the ABC Motsepe National Play Off final; the SAB National Championships final; the Sasol League Women's National play-offs final and the U/19 Men's National Championship final.
The SABC says ...
The SABC in a statement says it has "noted the statement by Safa" and that the SABC "made a commercially-viable offer that would enable the SABC to deliver football matches to South African audiences on SABC platforms and this offer was rejected by Safa".
"On the previous contract there were obligations and milestones which the SABC has met, including the payment milestones of that contract, albeit late given the SABC's dire financial situation."
"The Seychelles versus Bafana Bafana match scheduled for 16 October will be broadcast by the SABC since these rights do not reside with Safa."
"With reference to Safa allowing the SABC to broadcast the last Afcon qualifier match, Bafana Bafana versus Libya, we contend that the broadcast of the match had nothing to do with a promise of a new agreement but was based on the payment milestone which the SABC has since met from the previous contract."
"The SABC's financial position is a known fact and has been made public by the SABC, despite this, the SABC has ensured that it met all its financial obligations to Safa. The SABC is therefore prepared to broadcast the two remaining 2019 Afcon qualifiers."
"It is unfortunate that the SABC and Safa legal dispute is in the public domain but the SABC remains committed to engaging Safa on fair terms," says the SABC.
War of words as SABC is chased from FNB Stadium
Meanwhile the SABC, its journalists and vehicles have been chased away from Soweto's FNB Stadium.
Chris Maroleng, SABC chief operating officer (COO), said the SABC had already deployed an outside broadcasting (OB) van to the FNB Stadium in Soweto "and did this in good faith, anticipating we would be able to broadcast. However Safa denied us access to the venue and we have returned out equipment to our headquarters".
Safa slammed the SABC and Chris Maroleng's claims, saying "there were no SABC OB trucks at the stadium. There were one or two SABC cars but not OB trucks at the gate that were turned away. Anyway had they arrived, they would have been turned away in any case".
"Safa finds it surprising that there has been talk of good faith when there has been no contact with SAFA by the SABC since the last communication. In any event, there is no contract between Safa and the SABC, so why were trucks allegedly sent to the FNB Stadium when the SABC insists, 'No contract, no broadcast'?"
SABC only offered to pay R10 million
Danny Jordaan, Safa CEO, on Thursday evening in an interview on SABC radio with Robert Marawa, revealed the SABC only offered to pay R10 million for the rights that decreased from an initial R150 million.
"If broadcasting money diminishes from R150 million to R10 million you can see the implications," said Danny Jordaan.
"This is the offer we received from the SABC. The recently expired TV deal was set at R110 million and Safa made a new offer of R200 million."
The SABC then countered by offering to pay just R10 million.
"Rugby gets R2.8 billion over 5 years [R560 million per year], while cricket gets R1.24 billion [R248 million per year] where football must get R50 million per year."
"When the SABC was under apartheid we used to get R37 million, so it's just unthinkable," said Danny Jordaan. "So now we have to approach government to say release us from this agreement as we have offers from outside the country who want to pay us in dollars."
