The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on Tuesday announced that it has not succeeded in securing the broadcasting rights of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, for South African audiences.
“Following the extensive negotiations with MultiChoice [SuperSport] for the sub-licensing of the Cricket World Cup 2023 free-to-air broadcasting rights, the SABC regrets to announce that the Corporation was not successful in securing these rights for South African audiences,” the corporation said in a statement.
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The public broadcaster further stated that it has once again been disadvantaged in securing the broadcasting rights of one of the sporting codes classified as sport of national interest by ICASA due to the non-affordable sub-licensing fees and restrictive conditions imposed by MultiChoice.
“This development is regrettable, and the Corporation would like to apologise to all Cricket fans and all South Africans,” the SABC added.
For its part, MultiChoice said that the SABC had rejected the company’s propositions for sub-licensing broadcasting rights to the Cricket World Cup.
“After prolonged negotiations, the SABC last night rejected MultiChoice’s latest proposal for a possible sub-license of broadcast rights to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on the basis of the proposed licence fee.
“This is notwithstanding MultiChoice offering the rights to the SABC on significantly reduced commercial terms, given its current circumstances. MultiChoice is disappointed at the rejection of its various proposals,” the company said in a statement.
Neither the SABC nor MultiChoice disclosed how much they were willing to pay or accept for the tournament’s broadcasting rights.
