The Botswana FootballAssociation (BFA)’s NationalExecutive Committee(NEC) is expected to fi -nally conclude the long overduebroadcasting issue between Supersportand Botswana Television(BTV). The NEC has beenfacilitating discussions betweenthe broadcasting companies; theywill meet the Botswana PremierLeague (BPL)’s new leadershipthis week.BPL’s board members gave theSupersport deal thumbs up duringthe board meeting which tookplace on July 27. The broadcastingdeal had been a burning issuein previous Premier League meetingsbut it has fi nally been giventhe green light by the league’sboard members.
The BFA signed a cashless dealwith the South African broadcastersin May this year; however,the deal did not include BTVwhich has been the country’sonly broadcaster in recent years.The local television station wasoffered the chance to negotiatea separate deal with Supersportin order to get feeds to broadcastgames for the upcoming seasonbut the duo have not yet reachedan agreement.This publication is reliably informedthat Supersport offeredBTV to purchase feeds at P4.2million. Gazette Sport has learntthat Supersport also wanted BTVto televise the games with theSouth African broadcaster’s ownbranding. This means that the localtelevision station would haveto display the South Africans’logo during the games.Such demands were rejected byBTV according to the reports; thediscussions were at a stalemate asa result of the two parties’ failureto reach a consensus.
Despite thedisagreement, both broadcastersare still locked in the fi nal roundof negotiations which will becompleted this week.BFA president, Tebogo Sebego,told this reporter that the matterwill be resolved in a few days.“We want to conclude the issuethis week. The NEC and the BPLmet on Friday to discuss some aspectsof the deal but we will meetagain this week to lay the issueto rest. The league is a productof the association and we are thefacilitators in these discussions,”said Sebego.“Our main aim is to form agood working relationship betweenthe BFA, Supersport andBTV. A conclusion will be madesoon,” Sebego said.BTV and Supersport were onceat loggerheads during the MascomTop 8 fi nal in May. The statechannel was denied access totelevise the cup fi nal since theyhad not been awarded the rightsto broadcast the game. After thefi nal game, the local channel didnot broadcast Premier League activitiesfor up to three days.