SABC to the rescue as public broadcaster gets Afcon rights

The South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has secured the rights to broadcast the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament in Ivory Coast.

ALSO READ: PSL charges Moroka Swallows for no-show

There were worries that South Africans would not be able to watch the continental competition after SuperrSport failed to acquire the rights, but the public broadcaster has come to the rescue of football lovers by acquiring them.

In a statement, the SABC confirmed the acquisition of the rights to host the Afcon as well as the rest of the live Caf matches this season.

“The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Africa Cup of Nations 2023 broadcasting rights and the rest of the events for the 2024 season,” read the statement.

“TotalEnergies Afcon 2023 is a highly anticipated sports spectacle that will take place in Ivory Coast from 13 January 2024 until 11 February 2024 and will be only available on the SABC channels across all broadcasting platforms in South Africa.

“With the local PSL season taking a break for the next six (6) weeks, SABC Sport will be offering its audiences and commercial partners the live experience of all the 52 matches of AFCON 2023, in which the South African national team, Bafana Bafana will also be participating.

Furthermore, the SABC added that South Africans will enjoy watching more live football matches organised by Caf on the public broadcaster, including the Caf Women’s Champions League where Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies team will be looking to defend their trophy.

“In addition, SABC Sport has also acquired the live matches to the rest of the Caf events, which includes all 150 matches of the Afcon 2025 qualifiers, all the 32matches of Caf Chan 2024, all matches of Caf Champions League 2023/24, all matches of Caf Confederations Cup 2023/24, all the matches of Caf Africa Women Cup of Nations 2024, all matches of Caf Women’s Champions League 2024 and all the matches of Caf Super Cup 2024,” the statement continued.  

“These acquisitions put the football lovers and commercial partners in the position to experience the world’s biggest football events exclusively on SABCchannels, making this great content available to all South Africans with noncompetitive platform blockages.

“Each match will be delivered with a studio build-up and wrap comprising of the expert analysis from the leading on-air talent of SABC Sport. In its promise of making all world-class events being available to all South Africans with no barrier or cost to entry, the SABC will broadcast all the Afcon 2023 matches live on SABC1, SABC 3, SABC Sport Channel, and SABC Radio stations, Radio 2000, RSG, UmhloboWenene FM, Ukhozi FM, Lesedi FM, Motsweding FM, Thobela FM, Phalaphala FM, Munghana Lonene FM, Ikwekwezi FM, Ligwalagwala FM and TRUFM in the language of choice to audiences.

“SABC Plusand sabcsport.com will offer free live streaming of all 52 games, while also offering a free catch-up service for those that may have missed the live action. SABC Sport social pages on Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter)will offer audiences live commentary of every single unmissable moment every single one of the 52 live matches of AFCON 2023.”

SABC’s Chief Operations Officer, lan Plaatjes said: “The SABC team is happy to have made all these great sports activities available to the South African public and would like to express its gratitude to the rights holders, New World Media and all the relevant stakeholders who worked tirelessly to ensure the fruition of this process. We would also like to wish Bafana Bafana all the best for the competition in Ivory Coast.

ALSO READ: Khune set to return to Chiefs training after Afcon break?

“The leadership of Dr Patrice Motsepe, the CAF President, has ushered a turnaround in the Organisation making the Africa Cup of Nations one of the most sought-after property globally. SABC Sport joins a number of international broadcasters who will show the games.”