He has already been quoted saying interested parties must resolve the ongoing battle around the sub-licensing of major sports matches “peacefully” before he “declares war” on them.
Those who came before him talked tough when they took office and promised to resolve this impasse ‘once and for all’, but they failed because of money-spinning contractual obligations that different federations have with SuperSport.
In July, the majority of South Africans could not watch the Springboks against Ireland as the home Test series was not televised on SABC or elsewhere, and the match was only available on SuperSport channels under their DStv Premium package, which many cannot afford.
For the remainder of the year, the Springboks are scheduled to play nine Test matches against Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Scotland, England and Wales, and next week the Proteas take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series.
Unless there is intervention with SuperSport agreeing to sub-license the rights to someone else on free-to-air, once again the majority of South Africans will not be able to watch those matches.
On numerous occasions in the past, especially during Word Cups, SuperSport agreed to sub-license to other channels including the SABC after negotiations with relevant stakeholders.
Minister McKenzie, the sports rights broadcast issue is more complicated than you think
Since he took over as sports minister as part of the GNU, McKenzie has been on the verbal offensive with promises of sorting out this long-standing issue
Minister of sport Gayton McKenzie is correct in saying major events involving Bafana Bafana, the Springboks, the Proteas, Netball Proteas and other national teams must be available on SABC or any other free-to-air television.
It is an injustice that, most of the time, the majority of South Africans are unable to watch their national teams because those matches are on pay-TV SuperSport, which has considerable financial muscle to buy the rights.
Since he took over as sports minister early last month as part of the government of national unity (GNU), McKenzie has been on the verbal offensive with promises of sorting out this long-standing issue.
McKenzie means well, but unfortunately, things are a bit more complicated in reality than just shouting from the rooftop, and one gets the feeling he doesn’t have a full grasp of the issues.
Instead of his continued public comments on the matter, McKenzie should get MultiChoice Group, the SABC, eMedia, Icasa and other interested parties in a room for discussions to fully understand the issues and formulate constructive ideas to resolve them.
He has already been quoted saying interested parties must resolve the ongoing battle around the sub-licensing of major sports matches “peacefully” before he “declares war” on them.
Those who came before him talked tough when they took office and promised to resolve this impasse ‘once and for all’, but they failed because of money-spinning contractual obligations that different federations have with SuperSport.
In July, the majority of South Africans could not watch the Springboks against Ireland as the home Test series was not televised on SABC or elsewhere, and the match was only available on SuperSport channels under their DStv Premium package, which many cannot afford.
For the remainder of the year, the Springboks are scheduled to play nine Test matches against Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Scotland, England and Wales, and next week the Proteas take on the West Indies in a two-match Test series.
Unless there is intervention with SuperSport agreeing to sub-license the rights to someone else on free-to-air, once again the majority of South Africans will not be able to watch those matches.
On numerous occasions in the past, especially during Word Cups, SuperSport agreed to sub-license to other channels including the SABC after negotiations with relevant stakeholders.
Even under those circumstances where politicians get involved in response to public pressure, the SABC gets the sub-licensing rights, but they still have to meet the valuation of SuperSport.
Over the past few years, the SABC has not aired many Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches because SuperSport calls the shots on what the public broadcaster can show given their contractual agreements.
In fact, on some busy PSL weekends the SABC can broadcast only one match on Saturday afternoon, with SuperSport showing as many as seven, with others going on their streaming services.
For many years the SABC and SuperSport have failed to find each other and this trend is expected to continue because the pay-TV platform has attached a certain value to sub-licensing that the public broadcaster cannot meet.
Someone needs to tell the minister that in 2019, Icasa held public hearings into draft broadcasting regulations and there was an overwhelming agreement from federations that sport will die a slow and painful death if sports rights go to free-to-air.
Most of the federations argued that a big chunk of their revenue comes from broadcasting rights because broadcasters are prepared to pay a premium to exclusively access their content.
Most federations pointed out that more than 50% of their revenue comes from broadcasting while the rest of a combination of sponsorship and gate takings and events and government grants and this is the reality.
Even PSL chair Irvin Khoza warned Icasa that the PSL would risk poverty if it was prevented from selling its broadcast rights on an exclusive basis and football is the most-followed sport in the country.
The minister is faced with a tough job of following up with his promise of taking popular senior national teams on free-to-air television — it is not going to be that easy because pay-TV holds all the aces.
Instead of taking a populist posture and shouting what he thinks people want to hear at the top of his voice, McKenzie must be involved in diplomatic discussions with all the relevant stakeholders for them to find each other.
Whatever the outcome, someone will have to put money on the table to buy sub-licensing from SuperSport, which owns the rights.