A "bullish" South African Broadcasting Corp. "is going to war" over the rights to broadcast the country's national football team matches live, according to Andile Ndlovu of TIMES LIVE. SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng held a meeting with the South African FA "at which Bafana Bafana TV rights were discussed." It was reported on Sunday that SAFA "had sold the rights to newcomer Siyaya TV." After the meeting, Motsoeneng alleged that SAFA "had denied all the comments" attributed to spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi and CEO Dennis Mumble. Motsoeneng: "SAFA has clarified the matter. What they said to us is that the newspaper reports are not true" (TIMES LIVE, 8/5). IT WEB's Bonnie Tubbs wrote City Press reported "Siyaya TV had inked" a 1B rand ($93M) deal with SAFA. The deal would mean the SABC, which currently holds these rights -- including coverage for all other national sides -- until its contract
expires at the end of April, "will have to then buy" national football
broadcasting rights from Siyaya. Mumble said, "Yes, we have signed a new major broadcast deal and have informed the SABC. Unfortunately, that's all I can say, as we will be making an official announcement soon" (IT WEB, 8/5).
