Thursday 24 July 2008

Darren Olivier

2010 FIFA World Cup digital broadcasting rights dispute

Following the Afro-IP post last month entitled 2010 World Cup Music Rights: whose right? Afro Leo has learnt from The Star this morning that there is another skirmish over rights relating to the World Cup.

Digital Horizons, a SA based black owned company has lodged an urgent application in which it asked the court to prevent the SABC ,the national broadcaster, from concluding a deal with Sony over the digital broadcasting rights. A committee appointed by the SABC board to look for a company which could partner the public broadcaster had earlier recommended that the R383m tender be awarded to Digital Horizons. However, the court heard that the board chose to ignore the negotiating team's recommendation. ‘The decision to award the tender to Sony was not taken by the full SABC board,’ Digital Horizons argued. The SABC board said Sony's bid was R66m (about $8.5million) less than Digital Horizons' quote. Judge Moroa Tsoka agreed with the SABC that the matter was not urgent and called on both parties to make formal presentation in court on 12 August. Disputes over rights at this fairly late stage will not do anything to promote 2010 event, which is already hampered by international concerns over safety and readiness.

Darren Olivier

Darren Olivier

Subscribe via email (you'll be added to our Google Group)

2 comments

Write comments
Anonymous
AUTHOR
27 July 2008 at 18:31 delete

This article is riddled with inaccuracies.
1. The dispute by Digital Horizons is about a tender granted to Sony for the supply of equipment. It has nothing to do with broadcast rights for the 2010 World Cup.

2. This has nothing to do with FIFA either.

The basic story seems to be that a supplier is upset that after his BEE credentials were approved, it was not enough to secure the tender for advanced electronic equipment after due diligence by the tender committee. Sony (the world leader in broadcast electronics) was able to supply the four trailers at a cost R66 Million less than Digital Horizons.

I think that, for once, the SABC will win this case.

Reply
avatar
5 August 2008 at 18:57 delete

Thanks Andy, I have made a few changes...hope they work.

Reply
avatar