We do have 2010 broadcast agreement - SABC

The South African Broadcasting Corporation has responded what it terms “the misleading Star article” ‘SABC's R400M 2010 ruse' as well as other reports in the media related to the article.

The SABC statement says the corporation's position regarding the acquisition of the corporation's outside broadcasting vans, for the broadcasting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa by the SABC, is as follows:

• The SABC does have an agreement with FIFA to be the official broadcaster of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the court case will not in any way hamper the broadcasting of this tournament;
  
• The SABC maintains that its award of the tender to SonySA was appropriate, particularly having regard to the substantial difference between the bid by SonySA and that of Digital Horizons of R66million;
  
• The SABC maintains that the best interests of the public at large and the corporation were served by the award of the tender to SonySA;
  
• Due to the fact that this matter is before the courts, the SABC will not comment further as the matter is still sub judice.

However, the SABC also says that the OB vans have previously been used:

• For the Preliminary Draw for FIFA in December 2007;
  
• The Confederations Cup Draw;
  
• The corporation supplied three high-definition OB vans, two which were used, to HBS (Host Broadcaster contracted by FIFA) in terms of the SABC's agreement with FIFA for the Confederations Cup. The statement claims that 11 out of the 16 matches were “done on SABC facilities” [sic] and claims that the technical quality of the broadcasts attracted “many accolades”.
  
• Lastly, says the SABC, two of the new units will be used by HBS (through the FIFA VIK agreement) for the final draw on 4 December 2009.

The corporation says that as South Africa will be migrating from analogue to digital in the near future, “the SABC has every right to ensure that we are ready for that transformation in order to continue broadcasting 2010 and beyond”.

For more:

• The SABC's R400m ruse for 2010