Lesedi Kapinga of Mamelodi Sundowns challenged by Salim Mohamed Bershawi of Al Hilal. Photo: BackpagePix
Is Skeem Saam keeping Caf football off of SABC TV?
The SABC claim that clashes with their popular soapies and local drama series have kept some Caf Football matches off free to air TV.
Lesedi Kapinga of Mamelodi Sundowns challenged by Salim Mohamed Bershawi of Al Hilal. Photo: BackpagePix
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have admitted that a deal has been in place to broadcast all Caf Champions League matches played in South Africa.
Soapies keeping Caf Football off of TV
The SABC says that it has not opted not to broadcast selected matches because of clashes with their lucrative soapie slot.
SABC clarified its arrangement with the rights holders in a statement to Soccer Laduma: “The SABC can confirm that it has an agreement with CAF, via SAFA, to be the host-broadcaster of CAF matches in South Africa. However, this agreement only applies to the home games of the South African teams and not away games.
“In this regard, matches will be broadcast live on our SABC Sport channel – available to stream on TelkomONE or via the SABC DTT channel. It must be noted that there are no costs associated with these broadcast rights. One of the key reasons for the games not being aired on TV relates to their weekday 6pm kick off time, which clashes with the SABC 1 drama and soapie slot between 18:00-22:00, which generates substantial sponsorship and advertising revenues for the SABC.”
SABC unable to reach a compromise
SABC spokesperson, Mmoni Seapolelo claimed that the broadcaster had engaged Caf to arrange alternative kick-off times to no avail.
The broadcaster has, however, confirmed that the upcoming Caf Champions League match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Algerian side CR Belouizdad as well as the Confederation Cup match between Orlando Pirates and ES Setif will go out live on SABC 1.
“The SABC continues to engage CAF and the respective clubs to consider an alternative kick-off time, and while they had initially refused to consider changing this for the previous matches, have now decided to change the kick-off times for the remaining weekday matches,” Seapolelo said.
“As such, we are pleased to announce that the Friday match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Algerian team CR Belouizdad, and the Wednesday 21 April 2021 game featuring Orlando Pirates vs another Algerian side, ES Setif, will both kick off at 3pm and will both be carried live on SABC 1”
South African football fans are unhappy with games being streamed as an alternative to traditional TV as the cost of data is a prohibitive obstacle to enjoying digital platforms.
It is unclear if Caf matches played in South Africa during the knockout phases will be carried by the SABC.
