Kaizer Chiefs

The SABC has slammed CAF for “denying” millions of South African football fans the opportunity of watching Saturday’s CAF Champions League final. Photo: Twitter @KaizerChiefs

SABC angry at CAF, SuperSport over CAF Champions League final TV snub

The SABC has slammed CAF for “denying” millions of South African football fans the opportunity of watching Saturday’s CAF Champions League final.

Kaizer Chiefs

The SABC has slammed CAF for “denying” millions of South African football fans the opportunity of watching Saturday’s CAF Champions League final. Photo: Twitter @KaizerChiefs

The SABC is not happy!

The organisation has slammed CAF for “denying” millions of South African football fans the opportunity of watching Saturday’s CAF Champions League final between Kaizer Chiefs and Al Ahly.

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In a lengthy statement on Friday, the SABC expressed its “surprise” and “disappointment” at CAF for agreeing to an exclusive deal with SuperSport to screen the match, thus denying those unable to afford the pay station’s fees from watching.

The SABC claimed it had met CAF’s asking price for the free-to-air rights, but their offer was rejected on the basis that a deal had already been struck with SuperSport.

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The much-anticipated final will go ahead on Saturday, 17 July in Casablanca, Morocco.

Kick-off is at 21:00 SA time.

If you are unable to access SuperSport, be sure to stay tuned to The South African website for the very best coverage of the final!

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The SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) regrets to announce that it has been denied the opportunity of broadcasting the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Champions League final between Kaizer Chiefs and Egypt‘s Al Ahly.

The SABC was surprised and disappointed to learn yesterday that Caf had sold the exclusive rights to broadcast the final to the pay-TV broadcaster‚ SuperSport.

Despite the SABC meeting Caf’s asking price for the free-to-air rights‚ the offer was rejected on the basis that Caf has signed an exclusive deal with SuperSport that covers all rights‚ including the free-to-air rights‚ for this match.

It simply cannot be in the public interest for Caf and SuperSport to contractually exclude millions of non-pay-TV subscribers from watching this game. Furthermore‚ it is disreputable for a pay-TV broadcaster to acquire free-to-air rights with the intention of blocking free-to-air broadcasters from using those rights.

At a time when economic exclusion is the biggest issue facing South Africa‚ not only does this deal between Caf and SuperSport perpetuate the divide in our society but it shows scant regard for the issues facing our people.

The failure of ICASA’s Sports Rights regulations to deal with this situation means the public broadcaster has no recourse to the regulator even though broadcasting the Caf Champions League final – involving one of SA’s biggest clubs – is clearly part of SABC’s public mandate.

This is a very sad day for Kaizer Chiefs fans and all football lovers in South Africa when Caf‚ the custodian of the people’s game on the African continent‚ agrees to exclude millions of people who cannot afford pay-TV.

Despite this unfortunate outcome driven by two parties who do not have public service obligations‚ and clearly do not have the poor’s interest at heart‚ the SABC remains committed to bringing big sporting events to all South Africans.