by Thinus Ferreira
Following a Mexican stand-off over sports rights in which someone finally blinked, MultiChoice says that after "updated conversations" with Viacom18, SuperSport will now suddenly show the latest 16th Indian Premier League (IPL) that starts today to DStv subscribers.
MultiChoice and SuperSport shocked and angered DStv subscribers late on Thursday afternoon, when, in a terse admission, it revealed that it would no longer be broadcasting the Indian Premier League for the first time since the world's biggest cricket tournament started in 2008.
Viacom18 acquired the IPL rights for Sub-Saharan Africa with MultiChoice and SuperSport that until Thursday failed to reach any agreement.
On Friday afternoon MultiChoice suddenly changed its tune after saying it won't have IPL coverage anymore, noting that it has suddenly signed a new commercial agreement to show the cricket tournament from today.
According to MultiChoice, all 74 matches will be on DStv and broadcast live.
"Following updated conversations with the rights
holder, DStv can confirm that all Indian Premier League matches in 2023 will be
broadcast on SuperSport," the Randburg-based pay-TV company says in a new statement, adding that it had "reached a commercial agreement with the
rights holders to broadcast the IPL, starting today".
Marc Jury, SuperSport CEO, says that "We are very happy to have reached an agreement to continue our partnership
with the IPL that extends back to the inaugural event in 2008".
The first IPL match is today between the Gujurat Titans and Chennai Super Kings which will be shown live on DStv channel 212 at 16:00.
Livid DStv subscribers slammed MultiChoice and SuperSport from late Thursday when the news became known that it was over and done for further IPL coverage on the pay-TV service - especially since MultiChoice is hiking fees again from April 2023.
From a content acquisition perspective, MultiChoice and SuperSport are trying to contain and reign in costs - especially of international sports content of which the global asking prices for premium events continue to rise faster than inflation.
The IPL would have been the next chunk of content that MultiChoice and SuperSport no longer had for DStv subscribers but on Friday it became clear that someone in the IPL sports rights Mexican stand-off between the two sides who played hardball with each other, finally blinked.
On Thursday MultiChoice still called the IPL negotiations "unsuccessful", only to update it a day later to suddenly having "reached a new commercial agreement".
On Thursday MultiChoice told DStv subscribers that "Sport lovers are in for a treat over the next three months with a feast of major sport from around the world, despite the Indian Premier League not being on the SuperSport schedule".
