Bid to air Bafana match thwarted

Bafana Bafana fans face another television blackout this weekend, thanks to the the SABC balking at the R5 million asking price for the rights to broadcast Sunday’s 2012 African Nations Cup qualifier in Niamey against Niger.

The SABC described the amount demanded by French sports rights marketing agency SportFive as “unreasonably high, unsustainable and way above the universal market rate”.

This is the second successive match where the SABC have been involved in an argument with SportFive over the cost of its TV rights. Only a last-minute intervention from the SA Football Association ensured that June’s qualifier against Egypt in Cairo was broadcast.

With last October’s qualifier in Sierra Leone not shown by the SABC because of a problem with an independent production crew, another public outcry would surely ensue if this weekend’s game does not air.

But there does seem to be a genuine issue over the fees being charged by SportFive.

The Confederation of African Football granted them the rights, earlier this year, to all Africa-based qualifers until 2016 (SportFive are believed to have paid in the region of $16 million (R112m).

“The corporation made what it believes to be a reasonable offer, and one that was even above the market rate, but the rights holder was unwilling to accept the offer,” the SABC said.

It added that the “going rate” for a game featuring the top 10 African sides was “R1.4 million”, and that they were “even willing to make a better offer on the going rate, despite the fact that Niger was not a top 10 team in Africa”.

A reliable independent source confirmed that what the SABC was being charged by SportFive was excessive.

“They are being held hostage,” said the source. The price paid for top African qualifiers should not be more than R600 000, he said.

The source also said the most that would be paid for a top European qualifier was R150 000.

SportFive senior vice-president Iddriss Akki, however, claimed that the SABC was being charged the going rate.

“It’s the same amount that they (the SABC) paid for Egypt,” Akki told the Star on Thursday.

“It’s half what Morocco pay and less than Egypt paid for the South Africa game.

“In Sierra Leone you had that ridiculous (production) situation, and we have already paid euro100 000 (about R1 million) to send a production crew to Niger to make sure the whole of South Africa can see the game.”

We have made an offer for the South Africa match, and we can’t negotiate a day before the game.

“My only concern is making sure the South African people get to see the game, and I am sure we can do a deal with a South African broadcaster.”