Fans suddenly spoilt for choice as SuperSport announce Afcon TV rights deal

After some time not knowing whether South Africans would be able to watch the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals on television, football fans will now be spoilt for choice when the tournament kicks off on Saturday.

SuperSport on Wednesday announced that they would be showing all 52 games live after their parent company MultiChoice reached an agreement with the new rights holders, the Togolese company New World TV.

This comes after the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) also revealed that they would be showing all 52 games live, across their various platforms.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced at the beginning of December that they had reached an agreement with New World TV (NWTV) for all Free to Air and Pay TV rights for English and local languages across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Phakaaathi believes that the Confederation of Football initially tried to approach SuperSport over acquiring the Pay-TV rights, which have been up for grabs after CAF scrapped a $1 billion deal with French company Lagardere Sports in November 2019.

No agreement was reached with SuperSport, however, and when they announced the deal with New World TV, it seemed like SuperSport may well not be showing this year’s AFCON.

It was only a week ago, when the SABC announced that they had secured the rights from NWTV and would be showing all 52 games live, that South Africans learned that they would be able to watch the tournament at all.

At that point it appeared SuperSport would not be showing the tournament at all, but at the last minute they have reached an agreement.

This is good news not just for South Africans, but also for territories across Africa, especially Nigeria, where DStv has a large subscriber base.

‘The best of African football’

“We are delighted to be able to showcase the best of African football live to our viewers,” said SuperSport CEO Rendani Ramovha in a statement.

Managing Director of NWTV Nimonka Kolani added: “By securing the rights to CAN 2023 under the leadership of Dr. Patrice Motsepe, SuperSport and NWTV prove that nothing is more important than the happiness of Africans who wish to follow the exploits of their favourite team during the biggest football competition in Africa.”