#RWC4All — but only this weekend

In September the SABC issued a statement, 72 hours before Rugby World Cup 2019 began, that it wouldn’t broadcast any matches on TV. The national broadcaster said it couldn’t reach an agreement with Multichoice, SuperSport’s owners. The pay channel paid tens of millions for the rights to the tournament.

SuperSport was naturally reluctant to give away its most prized product in the ruthless world of sports broadcasting, having paid a premium for it.

But some common sense has prevailed in the national interest as the Boks try to win the title for the third time after their remarkable run to the final.

“The SABC is excited to be able to bring this historic game to the nation, as the public broadcaster recognises the role it plays in social cohesion, nation-building and promoting sports of national interest,” SABC group CEO Madoda Mxakwe said.

“We remain committed to entering into commercially viable agreements and we support and wish the Springboks well as they pursue a place in history.”

Despite this bit of good news for the country, the SABC’s problems are still desperate and only recent short-term government intervention stopped the parastatal from collapsing completely.

The details of the deal to show the rugby this weekend are not public, but given the financial state of the national broadcaster, it’s unlikely vast sums of money will change hands with SuperSport.

Considering the repeated nature of these situations between the SABC and SuperSport, for once the public are the winners.

Previously, in what has become a well-worn tactic of waiting until days before major sports events to announce they won’t be shown, the SABC then shifts the blame to SuperSport. The implication is SuperSport are unreasonable.

The SABC employed the same tactic earlier in 2019 for the African Cup of Nations and Cricket World Cups as well — both of which were screened on SuperSport.

In the emotive arena of national sporting teams competing on a global stage, there is an argument that there is a moral need for the entire country to have access to seeing them play.

Conversely though, in the cutthroat commercial world of broadcasting, SuperSport has the moral right to protect its financial interests. The only losers are the public and to a smaller degree players and teams, who aren’t being showcased to the entire country.

SuperSport spends billions each year buying the rights to myriad sporting events from the Springboks to English Premier League Football and just about everything in between.

South Africans love to consume sport on TV, but only a small percentage can afford the price tag that comes with seeing the major events. It’s an inescapable fact of modern-day sports coverage — someone has to pay for it. Ultimately that “someone” is the consumer, via subscriptions to channels such as SuperSport.

The SABC should be in a position to compete in the rights arena by paying market-related value for content. But after years of mismanagement and largesse, the organisation is bankrupt, financially and otherwise.

The SABC recorded a R977-million loss in 2017, which not only affects the ability to buy sports rights, but more fundamentally to provide quality radio and TV content.

Worse, it was slapped with a qualified audit for the 2018/19 financial year. The organisation’s annual report tabled in Parliament showed an “irregular expenditure” of R5.2-billion, up from R4.9-billion the previous year.

Despite the desperate state of the SABC’s finances, National Treasury paid more than R2.1-billion to the SABC as a part of a R3.2-billion bailout package on 4 October. It was dependent on the beleaguered organisation meeting eight preconditions set by Treasury. Only five of those conditions had been met when the first payment was made.

The five preconditions that have been fully met by the SABC are:

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  Determining immediate cash requirements supported by detailed cash-flow projections for the next 12-18 months;

  
  


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  Conducting a thorough investigation into what caused the financial collapse of the SABC and why the previous turnaround plans have not been implemented;

  
  


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  Providing an update of how the entity is dealing with people implicated in an investigative report;

  
  


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  Developing a turnaround plan incorporating measures to prevent the recurrence of the identified factors; and

  
  


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  Submitting a list of identified initiatives for revenue enhancement and cost-cutting initiatives.

  
  

Until now, the only Rugby World Cup matches on SABC platforms have been on radio.

International Management Group (IMG) held the radio rights to Rugby World Cup 2019 (not SuperSport) and the SABC managed to stump up an undisclosed sum to broadcast Springbok matches on Afrikaans channel RSG, Radio 2000 and the Xhosa-language Umhlobo Wenene FM.

But television is the major broadcast battleground and the playing field is continually changing in the digital world. Globally, national broadcasters are losing out to specialist pay channels in the fight for sports rights.

Sky and BT Sports in the United Kingdom paid a combined £4.464-billion (R83-billion) for the rights to show the English Premier League between 2019-2022. National Broadcaster the BBC didn’t even bother entering the race.

But increasingly pay-TV channels are not having their own way either. In New Zealand, there was huge angst when pay channel Sky NZ lost the rights to Rugby World Cup 2019 to a streaming service called Spark NZ. A 21st-century tech company with no track record of sports broadcasting won the battle to show an event New Zealanders hold dear.

This weekend all South Africa will be able to see Siya and his men battle for global supremacy. But the battle for future broadcast rights is not over as the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens in the ruthless world of sports rights. MC

Craig Ray is the editor of Maverick Sport.