SABC and SuperSport Break Silence After Orlando Pirates Broadcast Chaos
South African football supporters were left frustrated on Saturday afternoon after Orlando Pirates’ CAF Champions League second preliminary round first-leg match against African Stars FC could not be properly broadcast. The fixture, played at Botswana National Stadium, was scheduled for live coverage on both SABC and SuperSport but was severely affected by technical challenges originating from the venue.
Ahead of the highly anticipated encounter, supporters expected to follow Orlando Pirates’ away trip against the Namibian champions through the scheduled television broadcasts. However, viewers quickly experienced difficulties as the match feed failed to meet broadcasting requirements.
SABC Sport was the first broadcaster to address the situation, issuing a statement explaining the issues that prevented normal coverage of the match.
“The SABC is experiencing poor quality broadcast feed for the African Stars and Orlando Pirates match due to technical glitches emanating from the venue in Botswana,” said SABC Sport.
The public broadcaster’s statement placed the source of the problem at the venue itself, indicating that the technical difficulties were not related to its own broadcasting infrastructure but rather the production feed being supplied from Botswana.
As complaints and questions continued to pour in from viewers across South Africa, SuperSport also released a statement explaining why the match was unavailable on its platforms despite having been scheduled for broadcast.
“SuperSport was unable to broadcast the CAF Champions League Second Preliminary Round first leg match between African Stars and Orlando Pirates, which kicked off at 15:00 (CAT) today due to factors beyond the broadcaster’s control,” SuperSport said.
The broadcaster further revealed that preparations had been made to carry the match before the technical issues disrupted those plans.
“SuperSport had intended to broadcast the match, which was scheduled on DStv platforms,” the broadcaster added.
Acknowledging the frustration caused to football supporters, SuperSport concluded its statement by apologising to subscribers who had anticipated watching the important continental fixture live.
“We regret the inconvenience caused to subscribers,” the statement read.
While the technical issues prevented many supporters from watching the match live on television, fans were still able to follow proceedings through social media updates and live match coverage provided by Orlando Pirates and various media platforms.