JOHANNESBURG - At least some portion of the Global T20 League will be shown on free to air TV as part of the broadcast deal Cricket South Africa (CSA) and SuperSport hope to finalise this week, showing matches in the brand new competition to as much of the South African public as possible.
Cricket SA’s acting chief executive Thabang Moroe, said the details of what would be shown on free to air TV channels, were still being finalised. “I can’t say yet whether it will be just highlights or if there’ll be a couple of live matches, we are still discussing that,” he commented.
“We haven’t even needed to make SuperSport aware of the importance of the tournament being on free to air TV, they understood that already.”
The exact size of the financial package is also still being discussed, but it was clear from Moroe’s tone that there is a great deal of relief from CSA’s perspective that the tournament will be broadcast.
“It’s been very challenging, we basically had to start negotiations (regarding the broadcast deal for the GLT20) afresh,” he said.
Moroe was parachuted in as interim CEO last week after CSA parted ways with Haroon Lorgat after five years.
“I’ve also been in talks with our other key stakeholders to jump on board to support this, while providing the franchise owners with reassurances that we are still intent on providing delivery of the competition,” he added.
Moroe, who is also CSA’s vice-president, said he will most likely remain as acting CEO for the next four months, with the successful delivery of the GLT20 his major priority.
He said that the atmosphere within CSA’s offices has been very positive since Lorgat’s departure.
“It’s business as usual with the staff. They are all very positive and they understand why we are where we are,” Moroe remarked.
Lorgat is understood to have angered some of the organisation’s senior administrators over his unilateral handling of business deals with regard to the GLT20.
The fact that with just over a month to go to the start of the competition, no broadcast deal had been finalised further upset some in the federation.