The dispute over the sale of Premier Soccer League (PSL) broadcasting
rights took another twist yesterday when it emerged that the SABC had
bought rights to Monday night English Premier League matches for nearly
$40m over the next three years, writes Mninawa Ntloko in Business Day.
The deal will see the SABC paying $13m (R93m) a year for one low-profile English Premier League match a week over the next three years.
While SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago pleaded ignorance and said he was not aware of such a deal, English Premier League chairman Sir David Richards said from England that the public broadcaster had concluded the agreement earlier this year.
“Yes, it is true. We have entered into an agreement with the SABC and they will have rights to one premiership match a week for $10m a year for the next three years.â€ÂÂ
The disclosure will come as a surprise to those who accused the PSL of greed after the league sold the rights to the domestic premiership to pay channel SuperSport International for R1,6bn over five years last week.
Even more shocking is the revelation that the SABC was prepared to pay R93m for a low-profile Monday night English premiership match  Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool usually play on weekends  when it had paid the PSL just R67m a year for the entire domestic premiership programme.
Click here to read the full report, posted on Business Day's website.
