It would be pointless to compete with SuperSport, says new SABC Head of Sport

Gary Rathbone, the SABC’s new Head of Sport, insists it’s unrealistic for the public broadcaster to try and compete with SuperSport despite being appointed on the ticket of spearheading rights acquisitions.

He has extensive experience in this arena, having been at SuperSport for six years before moving on stints at Kenya’s Zuku TV and China’s StarTimes.

Rathbone had been a consultant before commencing his tenure in Auckland Park.

“I’m not going to go out there and try to match or undermine SuperSport’s offering,” he told Creative Space Media. 

“What SuperSport have done is tremendous, they’ve made a huge impact on sports broadcasting in this country and invested a lot in local sports. But I believe in the local sports environment in particular there are lots of opportunities to work together instead of fighting it out so to speak.”

Importantly, the central tenet to SABC Sport’s new direction is not to bite off more than it can chew, especially given its constrained financial position.

“I think it’s a pointless exercise to say: ‘Here are these big events that SuperSport are offering, let’s try and take it away from them’,” said Rathbone.

“I’ve seen too many broadcasters crumble because they did something like that. Fundamentally, the problem in the past was that we were sitting and waiting for parties to knock on our door and make offerings. Then, any offerings that looked shiny were taken on board without thinking how that fits into the broader strategy. 

“We don’t want to acquire things just for the sake of acquiring them. My focus initially will be on not spending a lot of money on trying to acquire big events, but spend more wisely. What broadcasting has taught me is that audiences have wide interests and they like choice and options.”

As a result, there could be an opportunity for the broadcaster to tap into niche sports that don’t represent SuperSport’s primary offering, while complementing it with “partnerships” that provide secondary content from blue chip events like rugby, cricket and soccer.

“There are two or three codes that we believe we can make our own. Boxing is a huge opportunity for us to actually take ownership of. We can be its home,” said Rathbone.

“Things like tennis and athletics are also products that we can expand on and reach a lot of people. These are sports that a lot of South Africans are currently engaged in. It has relevance.

“It’s not like we won’t have soccer or cricket anymore. Rugby is still a challenge, but that’s why we need to look at partnerships instead of competing.”

– Compiled by Sport24 Staff