South African TV viewers will experience disruption to their SABC TV schedules due to the 2018 Soccer World Cup starting on Thursday, with shows disappearing and several moving channels and time-slots.
The SABC is once again forced into schedule disruption of its 3 terrestrial TV channels to accommodate coverage of the FIFA World Cup, with SuperSport rolling out some additional new programming and StarSat letting South Africans stream-watch the tournament through its mobile app.
SABC coverage
The SABC has allocated SABC1 for Soccer World Cup soccer matches and match highlight programming.
Skeem Saam and Uzalo moves from SABC1 to SABC2 from Friday 15 June until Friday 13 July on weekdays at 18:30 and 20:30 respectively.
Generations - The Legacy moves from SABC1 to SABC3 on weekdays at 20:00 from 14 June.
Sport at 10 and Soccerzone will broadcast an episode each on 4 and 9 July.These shows will be shelved for 4 weeks, returning to SABC1 on 16 and 18 July.
The current affairs programmes on SABC2, Leihlo La Sechaba, Ngula Ya Vutivi and Zwa Maramani are being shelved for the duration of the World Cup and won't be broadcast.
The Afrikaans TV news and Sesotho TV news bulletins are both being truncated and the shortened 15 minute bulletins will be broadcast between 20:00 and 20:30 on SABC2.
On SABC3 on Mondays Cleveland Hustles moves from 19:30 to 20:00. The Amazing Race moves from 20:30 to 21:30. On Tuesdays The Man Cave VI moves from 19:30 to 20:00 and Top Chef Junior from 20:30 to 21:30.
On Wednesdays on SABC3 Neill Anthony Private Chef moves from 19:30 to 20:00 and Don't Tell the Bride moves from 20:30 to 21:30. On Thursdays on SABC3 The Scoop moves from 19:30 to 20:00 and Presenter Search on 3 moves from 20:30 to 21:30.
On Fridays on SABC3 Fundi's moves from 20:30 to 21:00.
On SABC1, Thomas Mlambo,Andile Ncube,Lebo Motsoeli and Romy Titus will be the public broadcaster's TV anchors during the tournament, with analysts Siphiwe Mkhonza, Phumudzo Manenhze, Marc Lewis, Duane Dell'Oca, Teko Modise, Doctor Khumalo, Jomo Sono, Rhulani Mokoena, Steve Khompela and Pitso Mosimane.
On radio the SABC will for the first time broadcast FIFA World Cup commentary to the Khoi and San communities in South Africa in the !Xun and Khwe dialect on XK-FM.
SuperSport coverage
SuperSport and MultiChoice didn't issue a press release regarding Soccer World Cup coverage plans, but the sports broadcaster that will have high definition coverage of the tournament will use Robert Marawa, Carol Tshabalala, Neil Andrews and Andy Townsend as its main presenters.
Matches and other programming will be shown on SuperSport 3 (DStv 203) until 15 July, as well as on a 24-hour World Cup channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.
Language options will include English, Portuguese, Pidgin English, Swahili, Zulu and Sesotho.
Analysts who will do some coverage on SuperSport for the tournament include Yaya Toure, Jay-Jay Okocha, Dwight Yorke, Phil Neville, Gianfranco Zola while local and African analysts Samson Siasia, Shaun Bartlett, Gavin Hunt, Andre Arendse and Benni McCarthy will also appear.
SuperSport will be doing some additional soccer programming including the lifestyle magazine show From Russia with Love with presenters Minnie Dlamini and Thato Moeng and a daily hourlong news show on weekdays at 19:00 on the SuperSport Blitz channel anchored by Julia Stuart and Crystal Arnold.
FanFest on Saturdays at 10:00 on SuperSport 3 will be simulcast on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) with Julia Stuart with a Nigerian version of FanFest shown at the same time in Nigeria with Mozez Praiz as presenter.
Master Plan that will be broadcast twice weekly on SuperSport 3 with presenter Andy Townsend will cover strategic and tactical analysis of games and players and Insights with Phil Neville will interview ex-football players.
StarSat coverage
Matches and other related programming of the 2018 Soccer World Cup will also be shown on StarSat for the first time - China's StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa that forms part of the wider StarTimes group.
Matches will be broadcast on StarSat's Sports Premium channel, with additional coverage on the Sports Arena channel.
The FIFA matches can also be watched and live streamed in South Africa through the StarSat app for mobile devices by looking for the Sports Premium channel which is one of the StarSat channels that are streamed through the StarSat app.
