by Thinus Ferreira
In an abrupt U-turn the South African public broadcaster will start broadcasting delayed and live matches of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on SABC1 from today, 6 days after the start of the tournament after initially saying that it "can't always cater to the masses" and that Afcon popularity has been declining.
The 33rd Afcon taking place in Cameroon started on 9 January and will run until 6 February 2022 with 24 teams playing in 5 cities (Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Garoua and Limbe) across Cameroon, with Algeria as the defending champions.
The 33rd Afcon was originally scheduled for June 2021 but was postponed and was postponed a second time in June 2020 to January 2022 due to the global Covid-19 pandemic but kept the name 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Both SuperSport and China's StarTimes acquired the pay-TV rights, with MultiChoice's DStv and Showmax Pro subscribers, and StarTimes and StarSat subscribers able to watch the 2021 Afcon.
It's the first time that MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax is making all 52 Afcon matches available as live streaming for Showmax Pro subscribers.
The SABC chose to only show the 2021 Afcon on its SABC Sport channel that is only available on digital terrestrial television (DTT) and not as an analogue TV channel, on eMedia's Openview satellite service and on the TelkomONE video streaming, and not on SABC1, SABC2 or SABC3.
Earlier this week in a radio interview on SAfm, David Makhubyane, the SABC's head of TV channels, said that "You can't always cater to the masses" as the reason for the SABC not showing the 2021 Afcon on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3. "The data has shown that we have a dip in numbers when showing Afcon," he said.
"Previous data has shown us that Afcon is not as popular on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 when Bafana is not there. So we have to balance the sustainability of the channels and our responsibility of showing other content".
On Friday afternoon the SABC issued a programming advisory with scheduling changes and advising the media that "SABC1 will
broadcast the African Cup of Nations starting Saturday 15 January 2022". The broadcaster didn't issue a formal press statement and didn't explain the U-turn.
The SABC1 2021 Afcon coverage will kick off with the broadcast of the match between Guinea-Bissau and Egypt shown live today at 20:30.
From Sunday, SABC1 will broadcast Afcon matches daily, but on a delayed basis until 29 January when the matches of the quarter-final teams round start which will be broadcast live on 29 and 30 January.
The semi-final teams match on 2 February will be live on SABC1 at 21:00 and the semi-finals match on 3 February shown delayed. The 2021 Afcon final will be shown live on SABC1 on Sunday 6 February at 21:00 with build-up coverage starting at 20:30.
