Who must pay for Springboks and Proteas matches to be available on SABC and E-tv

Communications minister Solly Malatsi has said his department is working on an Audio and Audio-Visual White Paper to determine which sporting events featuring national teams should be free in South Africa.

While the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) tried to do so in its proposed amendments to the Sports Broadcasting Rights Regulations in 2021, this received backlash from industry stakeholders.

The amendments proposed that broadcasters should not be able to acquire exclusive rights to several sporting events involving South Africa’s national teams.

This list included events such as the Rugby World Cup, Netball World Cup, and Cricket World Cup.

However, sports bodies complained, stating they depend on the revenue from selling exclusive broadcasting rights.

Icasa incorporated the feedback in the final regulations, saying that the acquisition of exclusive broadcasting rights would not be unlawful.

However, the firm that acquires the rights may not hinder or prevent the free-to-air broadcasting of national sporting events.

Given that the Minister is working on new regulations, MyBroadband contacted MultiChoice to determine its position on which events should be freely accessible to all South Africans.

“In line with the current regulatory regime, numerous sports events are prescribed as national sporting events and are required to be made available to free-to-air broadcasters,” it said.

“We believe the current regime is effective as it adequately balances the interests of sports bodies, the public as well as broadcasting service licensees. It is also broadly aligned with international best practice.”

MultiChoice said that according to the current regulations, sports bodies package their broadcasting rights as they see fit, and it is up to broadcasters — both subscription and free-to-air — whether they invest in the rights or not.

This raises the question of who would pay for the broadcasting rights, which are fundamental to sports bodies’ revenue, if it was determined that specific matches had to be broadcast on free-to-air platforms like the SABC and E-tv.

A dominant broadcaster like MultiChoice can only acquire exclusive rights if it allows other broadcasters to sub-license these rights, such as the SABC and eMedia, which both use free-to-air models.

However, if certain broadcasting rights have to be granted to free-to-air broadcasters, it is reasonable to expect compensation for the viewers they would lose.

Following his efforts earlier this year to increase accessibility to Springbok rugby coverage, sports, arts, and culture minister Gayton McKenzie said the South African government must step up to foot the bill.

If games are to be broadcast on SABC, the state broadcaster will first have to develop a proper funding model to replace the TV Licence.

One of the reasons Malatsi withdrew the SABC Bill was to prioritise finalising the audio-visual policy, which he said would tackle the thorny issue of the public broadcaster’s funding too.

Why South African sports need DStv’s exclusive rights

While the sale of exclusive sports broadcasting rights by definition excludes some South Africans from viewing those matches, stakeholders from both the broadcasting and sporting industry argue that exclusivity remains essential.

This is largely due to the additional revenue generated by the sale of exclusive rights, which sustains sport in South Africa.

“Selling rights exclusively maximises the income to sports bodies, and without this income, sport in SA cannot be sustainable,” MultiChoice recently told MyBroadband.

“Losing the ability to sell exclusive rights is likely to impact their ability to pay players competitive salaries, fund international tours to and from South Africa, grow their player base, fund development of their sport and maintain facilities.”

The Premier Soccer League and the South African Rugby Union (Saru) previously agreed with this view.

A Saru spokesperson said that roughly half of the money made from selling broadcast rights funds the playing and development of men’s and women’s rugby in the country.

They also explained that removing exclusivity from broadcasting rights would starve the industry of the revenue needed to keep the sport attractive to broadcasters.

“Removing exclusivity impacts the value of those rights, which in turn impacts the sport’s income, impacting the ability of the sport to deliver world-class performance, affecting the sport’s attractiveness to broadcasters,” they said.

“It’s a downward spiral.”