CAPE TOWN - SABC says it would love to broadcast live all national sports matches, but the public broadcaster at present cannot afford to buy rights from the sports federations.
This comes after Cosatu's demand for all national sports matches to be covered by the SABC and this should include the Springboks international matches that are presently taking place.
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SABC spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago said that sports broadcasting rights are sold by the sports federations and they are expensive, going up every day and unfortunately, the SABC cannot afford those rights at the moment. "It is not the matter of taking out cameras and broadcast the games, money has to be popped out and purchase the broadcasting rights from the sports federations," Kganyago said.
Cosatu claims that the poor South African communities are being deprived of access to national sports matches. "How can SARU or any sports code deny South Africans from seeing an international game featuring sportsman and woman," the federation's statement read.
South African Rugby Union spokesperson said, "We have noted the statement by Cosatu. There are certain regulations in place when it comes to the broadcasting of sports matches and we are in compliance with those regulations. All Springbok home test matches are broadcast on Free to Air television."