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Bafana clash will cost SABC

Johannesburg - The SABC will need to fight for the right to broadcast Bafana Bafana's African Nations Cup qualifer against Niger in September.

The clash, scheduled for September 3 as South Africa seek three points to take them into the finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year, could suffer the same fate as the Egypt clash.

The match in Cairo earlier this month was expensive for the SABC, who had to fork out R5 million to French rights holders SportFive to broadcast the match.

The SABC had allowed the Niger national broadcaster to air the game free of charge during the first leg in South Africa with the view to some reciprocation for the upcoming match.

However, after CAF sold all the broadcast rights to SportFive, it seems the SABC will need to get out their cheque book once again if any of us want to watch the game.

"There are many challenges when dealing with SportFive," SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told Times Live.

"They will not negotiate until the very last minute. They wait until things get desperate and then demand exorbitant amounts.

"If you agree, you are setting a precedent and we just have to take the negotiations on a game-to-game basis.

"If we say no, there's huge public outcry and people do not understand that we have to stretch the budget, which we cannot justify.

"It would be great if SAFA could either help financially or by negotiating with their counterparts or with CAF."

Kganyago also added that he did not expect any problems with broadcast rights for the African Nations Cup finals as the negotiating process is different and done on a package basis. 
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