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The TV battle: Who is doing it better?

With the Africa Cup of Nations on our television screens, the broadcasters have put up what they believe to be strong line-ups in an attempt to outdo one another.

But, like in every team, there are stars and weak links who deserve a place on the bench, or even in the stands.

For instance, Portia Modise is showing she makes more sense kicking the ball on the pitch rather than talking about it on television at the SABC.

The Banyana Banyana legend has brought kasi lingo to her analysis, which is no problem at all, but she hardly ever goes deeper into what the viewer has already seen.

Rhulani Mokoena has been a breath of fresh air on SABC, giving good and thorough analysis for the clash between Cameroon and Guinea-Bissau. They don't call the Mamelodi Sundowns assistant coach "Mourinho" for nothing and the way he analyses the game is a clear indication that SA has a future top coach to watch out for. Together with Desiree Ellis, they made a good team when they made an appearance on SABC1 last week.

Having celebrities like DJ Cleo and Glen Lewis, and Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, on the touch screen reading tweets on the channel has been interesting.

SuperSport, meanwhile, have made their Cup of Nations a reunion of some sort. Former Kaizer Chiefs players Tinashe Nengomasha and David Obua have teamed up on set on a few occasions and they are proving to be good additions to the panel.

Even though Bafana Bafana are not at Afcon, SuperSport have national team legends Neil Tovey, Andre Arendse, Benni McCarthy and Shaun Bartlett. Arendse and Bartlett have mastered the touch-screen analysis, while McCarthy just loves giving hilarious examples, like he did on Friday when he said Ivory Coast's Serge Aurier was probably more concerned about his pecks and looks instead of defending better against the DR Congo. That match ended 2-2.

McCarthy was also hit by some memory loss, when he forgot which club Dieumerci Mbokani plays for, either Norwich City or Hull City. It's Hull, Benni!

After watching for the last week or so, our verdict is that SuperSport has the edge, but the SABC have upped their game and are close to matching their rivals.

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