Africa-Press – South-Africa. Lester Kiewit explains why South African rugby test matches should be available on SABC.
For the first Springboks match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on 31 August, the SABC and Gayton McKenzie, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture announced that the game would be broadcasted on SABC and SABC Sport, making it accessible to all South Africans.
However, this was a once-off ‘deal’ to celebrate 30 years of democracy which meant the second-test match where the Boks took on the All Blacks in Cape Town on Saturday, 7 September was not aired by the public broadcaster.
Kiewit is asking why since the statistics speak for themselves…
Entertainment commentator Phil Mphela noted on X the SABC’s success in broadcasting the first test-match with the following stats:
The SABC and SABC Sport stated they had a cumulative viewership of around four million people watching the Springboks versus All Blacks game at Ellis Park on 31 August.
SuperSport (known for its ‘exclusive’ broadcasting rights) had a viewership of just over one million.
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SABC 2 and SABC sport had a cumulative viewership of 4-million viewers.
SABC2 experienced an average daily reach increase of 66%, while SABC sport channel registered 75% increase.
These viewership statistics lend themselves to a larger conversation where more of an effort should be made to bring rugby test matches to the SABC and consequently, making games accessible to all South Africans, all the time, adds Kiewit.
“It’s absolutely wild that more than four million people who watched the Bok game last week on the SABC… four million of them were not able to watch it this Saturday.”
– Lester Kiewit, Good Morning Cape Town – CapeTalk Radio HostKiewit notes that ‘we need to be forcing hands’ with those who have power because ‘something has to be done’ and asks if broadcasting on exclusive channels is in the ‘best interest for South Africans?’
“Something has to be done at some time… the sponsors of the Springboks, of SA Rugby, SuperSport, the SABC… I think we need to start forcing hands here because if the SABC’s rugby audience is four times bigger than the DStv viewership, surely, a conversation needs to be had in terms of what’s in the best interest for South Africans?”
– Lester Kiewit, Good Morning Cape Town – CapeTalk Radio Host “It’s that four million people who would’ve watched it a week ago on SABC, did not get a chance to watch the game this Saturday, for free… we need to have this conversation.”
– Lester Kiewit, Good Morning Cape Town – CapeTalk Radio HostScroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.
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