Zimbabwe World Cup coverage fails for the sake of $50

Zimbabwe's Independent newspaper has revealed that the state broadcaster ZBC failed to secure right to cover the World Cup as it was unable to pay for the services of a local satellite engineer who had asked for Zim$1 million (US$50).

ZBC, which is known to have no funds, had been bailed out by Zimbabwe Cricket who, so the report claims, had done a deal with the South African Broadcasting Corporation. All that ZBC had to do was to locate the signal, which it failed to do. As a result, only those with access to overseas satellite channels have been able to follow the action.

"We had put together a package for ZBC-TV to screen the World Cup matches, but we understand they had local technical difficulties accessing the signal from SABC," Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman Lovemore Banda told the Independent. No representative from ZBC was available for comment.

What is uncertain is whether Zimbabwe Cricket, who may have paid out up to US$1 million for the rights, will be able to reclaim the money.