The SABC is broke. So what are the implications for soccer?

It’s impossible not to see and hear nears about how the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is imploding. At the heart of the matter is the R700 million the corporation has lost during the last financial year. The drama has included the resignation of the majority of the board members, the ongoing court dispute between the former CEO and the board, and it goes on.

However, what concerns some of us is the R100 million the SABC owes to SuperSport for its sub-licenses for televised Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches and cricket matches. The public broadcaster has already bankrupted, and almost bankrupted, most of its independent production houses by failing to pay these suppliers amounts reported to be about R55 million.

Now it looks like this parastatal will only be able to put its house in order when it gets the R2 billion bail-out it has asked for from the government. Fortunately, SuperSport is a big enough company to be able to carry on operations despite being owed such an amount, but for how long can they carry on their relationship with the SABC if the money is not paid.

SABC, the free-to-air public broadcaster, provides the lower end of the market with access to televised local PSL soccer through their sub-licensing agreement with SuperSport, the pay TV network who hold the broadcasting rights for all PSL matches and the 2010 World Cup TV rights for the entire region. The majority of the market that the SABC targets cannot afford pay-TV.

So what will happen to these people if the SABC cannot solve its problems? Ultimately, it’s inconceivable that the government would allow the masses to be deprived of their favourite sport-broadcasts because of the incompetence of a few managers at the SABC who are responsible for this financial mess.

The SuperSport Chief Executive, Imtiaz Patel, was diplomatic in his response to how this situation would affect his company’s relationship with the SABC when he stressed that this relationship was confidential and therefore it would be inappropriate to disclose details in public.

At least we have a year before the World Cup which is more than enough time for this situation to be corrected. However, the new PSL season begins in just a couple of months time so the majority of local soccer lovers will be watching developments on this issue with a lot of concern.

However, with the spotlight on South Africa due to the 2010 World Cup, the government will want to avoid the negative publicity of this issue and will more than likely bail-out the SABC. Let’s wait and see… and hope.