SABC cricket blackout after public broadcaster fails to sign contract with Cricket SA for latest Australian tour.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster has once again failed to reach any agreement or to sign any contract with Cricket South Africa which will lead to a SABC TV blackout for viewers from today for the latest Australian cricket tour.

The SABC will not broadcast any of the latest limited-over Australian tour of South Africa after the SABC failed to sign any contract with Cricket SA for any of the three T20I and three one-day international matches.

The first match in the T20 series will be taking place today at 18:00 at Kingsmead in Durban and the tour will be shown on SuperSport for DStv pay-TV subscribers.

The SABC constantly tells parliament that it should be allowed to broadcast sport of national importance and of South Africa's national teams and that the reason it's not doing so is because it's prevented from acquiring content due to MultiChoice and SuperSport snapping up all the rights.

There's been no statement and no comment from the SABC about not showing the South African Australian cricket tour.

Meanwhile Cricket SA, hilariously and ironically, has the audacity to claim in a statement that while the cricket is not on the SABC, that it is "commitment to making cricket accessible to all South Africans". Since the cricket is not on the SABC, that is exactly what Cricket SA is failing to do.

Cricket SA in a statement says that "After protracted negotiations, the two parties could unfortunately not reach agreeable terms to secure broadcast rights in time to cover the tour".

"While CSA is disappointed at the prospect of many South Africans missing out on coverage of the thrill of the much-awaited Australia series, it reaffirms its commitment to making cricket accessible to all South Africans".

"Consequently, CSA will continue to engage with the SABC to find common ground on the broadcasting of cricket content."

"This is as the public broadcaster pursues to fulfil its mandate of providing cricket coverage for the majority of South Africans, while CSA is unwavering in its quest to ensure that cricket reaches all corners of the country. It is a symbiosis that binds the two organisations together."

"With CSA and the SABC partnership having provided mutually beneficial value in the past, CSA believes that it is in the interest of both the parties' stakeholders that such a partnership be maintained into the future."

MultiChoice says DStv sport subscribers are 'in for a treat' after admitting 16th Indian Premier League is the next sport rights SuperSport has lost and won't be showing.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice on Thursday afternoon admitted that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the next TV sport rights that SuperSport have lost with the 16th Indian Premier League which won't be shown on DStv - but adding that DStv subscribers "are in for a treat over the next three months with a feat of major sport from around the world".

DStv subscribers and SuperSport viewers are furious after the Randburg-based pay-TV operator told them for the first time on late Thursday afternoon that it is wickets on DStv for the 2023 Indian Premier League - the most popular cricket league in the world that MultiChoice has shown to DStv subscribers since its first edition in 2008.

MultiChoice is hiking DStv subscription fees from April, with DStv subscribers asking why they're forced to pay more but have content taken away - especially for a sport tournament SuperSport has been showing to DStv subscribers since it started.

The IPL sport rights are the next chunk of content that MultiChoice and SuperSport no longer has for DStv as the company cuts cost and face increasing competition from global video streaming companies that are bidding for the same content and also not making their own studios' content available through international distribution.

On Thursday SuperSport didn't bother to issue a press statement email to the media about losing the Sub-Saharan TV rights to the Indian Premier League to Viacom18. Around 15 South African cricket players are taking part in the tournament.

MultiChoice told DStv subscribers in a late Thursday email that "SuperSport previously held broadcast rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Following unsuccessful commercial discussions with the rights holder, we will therefore not broadcast the IPL as of this year's edition".

MultiChoice told DStv subscribers that "Sport lovers are in for a treat over the next three months with a feast of major sport from around the world, despite the Indian Premier League not being on the SuperSport schedule. Your world of Champions still has loads of exciting live sports coming your way! Don’t miss out on any of the action!"

The first match of the 16th Indian Premier League and that DStv subscribers now won't see on DStv or anywhere on SuperSport, is on Friday between the Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings.

SuperSport adds Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar as commentators for South Africa vs India test series.

SuperSport has signed up the former South African cricket captain Graeme Smith and the former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar as commentators for the South Africa versus India test series that will start on Friday in Cape Town and that will be broadcast on DStv.

SuperSport's coverage of the first SA/India cricket test will start on Friday, 5 January and continue until 9 January from 09:30 on SuperSport 2 HD (DStv 202) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform with an hour build-up coverage.

Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar will join other commentators Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock, Michael Haysman, Kepler Wessels and Mpumelelo Mbangwa for the duration of the Indian cricket team's tour.

"Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar have become sought-after commentators around the world and we're ecstatic to have them joining our team for this tour," says Alvin Naicker, SuperSport head of production.

"Having just come off the India versus Sri Lanka tour, Graeme Smith and Sunil Gavaskar have the inside knowledge on the form of the Indian team. It's this knowledge that will offer our viewers valuable insights on the tourists," says Alvin Naicker.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 5 October 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ SuperSport allegedly grabbed the T20 Global League cricket rights for a discounted $5.8 million.
But SuperSport on Wednesday said no deal has been signed and that it remains in discussions with Cricket South Africa (CSA).
According to reports, the initial ticket price of $10 million is lower since SuperSport has "increased expenditure" to set everything up at short notice. Cricket South Africa (CSA) allegedly also had to tone down and cut down on the costs of the tournament. Haroon Lorgat got fired as CSA CEO last week after his failure to get foreign broadcasters to sign on.
- ESPN reports an announcement will be made on Thursday and that Cricket South Africa will look to see how the cash-strapped SABC can be accomodated.

■ MultiChoice Nigeria, StarTimes and other pay-TV providers shocked at the unilateral tax relief given to new competitor TStv.
Even Nigeria's corrupt National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is dumbstruck, saying the minister of information and culture "made that announcement. He is the one that can explain better".

■ Ordinary Zambian TV viewers still in the dark about the country's failed DTT switch-over process.
Zambia was supposed to complete the switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) by 1 October 2017 but hasn't.

■ In a world without TV, what do we call TV?
We continue to call them "TV shows" even though a larger number of programming isn't being watched on actual TV sets.

■ Ugly TV tower loses its babies.
The tallest building in the Czech capital, Prague, is without its landmark babies - now teenagers - for the first time in 16 years.

■ TV censorship alive and kicking in Hong Kong.
Censorship overdrive as words and images are censored out, similar to what is happening in Africa.

■ Local TV station, Royal TV, in Rwanda has shut down.
50 out of jobs after loss-making TV channel is closed down after just over a year.

■ Australia's other TV channels want out of its local drama content quotas.
Wants Australia's public broadcaster, ABC, to be responsible for local content and they also want to completely get rid of having to do original children's programming.

■ Entertainment Weekly is moving from East to West.
The magazine is relocating its New York headquarters and staff to Los Angeles.

■ FX's John Landgraf pens an open letter about Silicon Valley's obsession with Netflix and Apple.
"Wall Street is wrong about the bets it is not placing on the future of the strongest TV brands. People still go to HBO, Showtime, AMC, Starz, BET, Nat Geo and numerous networks for a great new original series".

■ HBO's CEO on Netflix's massive content spend: "More is not better, only better is better".
HBO says the pay-TV channel will continue to "spend what we need to spend" to keep up its reputation for prestige programming.

■ Men earn 9% more at the BBC than women.
If this is the gender pay gap at the BBC, how much bigger is it at the SABC?

SABC again fails to broadcast South Africa's international cricket tour; can't secure broadcasting rights for Proteas' international tour to England and Wales.

The SABC has announced that it has once again failed to secure the broadcasting rights for yet another South African cricket tour, this time the outbound cricket tour of the Proteas to England and Wales starting Wednesday 24 May.

In another failure from the South African Broadcasting Corporation in terms of its barely there sports coverage on television when it comes to sports of national importance, the SABC yet again won't be providing broadcasting coverage and says it was unable to secure the rights.

The Proteas' tour to England consists of three ODI's, three T20's and four test matches that will all be broadcast live on the SuperSport channels on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Besides that there is also the 2017 ICC Champions Tropy cricket tournament taking place between 1 and 18 June.

Curtailed cricket coverage continues on SABC with 'highlights packages' only of the national cricket team's international tour.

The SABC's embarrassing treatment with paltry cricket coverage of the national cricket team continues with the SABC which will again not be showing any live broadcasts of the upcoming international cricket tour of the Proteas against Pakistan.

The SABC only accepted a daily "highlights package" in a deal with Cricket South Africa (CSA) for the international tour, the first test of three which starts on Friday.

In December the SABC - pleading poverty - finally inked some kind of a deal with CSA to show the T20 matches and one day international matches live on SABC3.

The rest of the test matches in February and in March will not be broadcast live but will consist out of highlight packages shown in the afternoon and then again late at night on SABC3.

SABC3 will also do some live crossings during the day for at least the first test and which could be extended later to the others.

"Although we could not reach an agreement on live ball-by-ball coverage of the Test Series, we are satisfied that there is an increase in coverage compared to the New Zealand series," says Marc Jury, CSA commercial manager.

"We will definitely be looking at how best to manage our free to air broadcast rights going forward to ensure that all South Africans are able to watch the Proteas when playing at home," says Marc Jury.

BREAKING. SABC to now carry the upcoming South African cricket test matches live on SABC3 from Friday.

The SABC has signed a deal with Cricket South Africa (CSA) following a protracted negotiation process over months, to now finally broadcast and broadcast livesome of the upcoming South African cricket test matches starting this Friday on SABC3.

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.