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Ray Bande
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League, and the national broadcaster, have been urged to ensure there is television coverage of the domestic Premiership, when domestic football resumes.
The local Premiership is expected to resume competitive matches, with the Uhuru Cup, set for tomorrow, setting the tone for a proposed cluster competition.
Television coverage of matches has been a major talking point given the Covid-19 restrictions which dictate that fans will not be allowed inside the stadia.
However, the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, have said it’s important that football be broadcast on television, especially in this Covid-19 pandemic era.
The Government also revealed they were overseeing negotiations, with a major multinational partner – Magnificent – which is expected to address electronic coverage of matches.
“Government is alive to the fact the Premiership matches would need to reach out to wider audience when competitive matches resume,” said Thokozani Chitepo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.
“We are aware that there is need to expose the talent we have in our top-flight league, through television coverage, and we are also aware of the costs that come with such an arrangement.
“To that end, we are working flat out to help the situation and we now have talks going on between SRC, ZIFA and PSL with the Magnificent company.
“It is a filming company that has the capacity to market the league using electronic media.
“From what we saw, it should be a deal that will benefit all involved parties and proper announcements will be made, as soon as negotiations, are complete.”
The deputy director in the Ministry, Ignatius Vambe, spoke on her behalf.
On the impasse, between national broadcaster ZBC and PSL over coverage of the domestic league, she said they had made sure the two parties find each other.
“We have also made efforts to ensure the PSL and ZBC find common ground and see to it that matches are broadcast.
”In that regard, Government intends to chip in by lessening the financial burden for ZBC.
“We fully understand that there are broadcasting rights that have to be respected and, to that end, we will also have to give financial assistance.
“At the end of the day, football should be the winner.”
The PSL are believed to have demanded US$200 000 from the ZBC if the national broadcaster want to broadcast live matches when the league resumes.
The package also includes radio and television rights.
Some reports indicate ZBC bosses told the PSL delegation they had been offered the 2021 UEFA European Championship finals, which get underway in June, for just US$50 000.
The PSL have struggled to benefit from their television rights,since the expiry of their six-year deal with SuperSport, at the end of the 2017 season.
There have been reports that some middlemen have been trying to bring the PSL and SuperSport, back into a marriage, which will see local matches back on DStv.
Content has been a big issue, for international sports broadcasters after many of the live sports events were brought to a halt by Covid-19.
SuperSport have already entered into a deal with the Ethiopian top-flight league, which is now shown on DStv.
The Zambian Super Division, where a number of Zimbabweans now ply their trade, has been on DStv for some time now.
However, analysts have been saying SuperSport might find it difficult, to keep the domestic Premiership from their packages, especially with the Warriors continuing to qualify for the AFCON finals.
Both South Africa and Zambia failed to qualify for the 2021 Nations Cup finals, set for Cameroon, next January.
Online Reporter