by Thinus Ferreira
Trying to lower pressure from South Africa's sports minister Gayton McKenzie who wants more South African viewers to have access to national sports, MultiChoice and SuperSport have grudgingly sublicensed a quarter of the current season's Premier Soccer League football matches to South Africa's public broadcaster.
MultiChoice will allow the SABC to broadcast 51 out of over 300 PSL matches which include 23 Betway Premiership matches, 12 Nedbank Cup matches, 10 Carling Black Label Cup matches and 6 National First Division games.
League matches will be broadcast on SABC1 on Saturdays. SuperSport will broadcast all 240 Betway Premiership games live on DStv and MultiChoice's streamer Showmax.
In a joint statement MultiChoice and the SABC say SuperSport and the SABC "have reached an agreement on the sub-licensing of Premier
Soccer League (PSL) broadcast rights for the new Betway Premiership season".
MultiChoice and the SABC note that the sub-licensing deal "comes on the back of strong relations developing between the two
broadcasters".
Besides being able to lower the pressure South Africa's new sports minister has put on the pay-TV operator and the South African public broadcaster, their strengthened relationship also serves both in an ongoing case against eMedia's e.tv when it comes to sports rights.
Rendani Ramovha, SuperSport CEO, says "The latest sub-licence agreement with the
SABC is another step towards a strong relationship with the public broadcaster,
for the benefit of football lovers across the country and the African
continent".
"The PSL has proven itself time and again to be the most coveted
football product among South Africans and we look forward to delivering another
outstanding season of football action on SuperSport."
Nomsa Chabeli, SABC CEO, says "We are pleased with this acquisition, which
is another demonstration of our commitment to delivering exceptional support
content to our diverse audiences."
