MultiChoice Group, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, has in a shocking U-Turn announced that SuperSport will broadcast live all 52 matches of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 after securing last-minute broadcast rights for the tournament which starts this Saturday, Jan 13, till February 14, 2024.
In a statement of Wednesday evening, TheCable company revealed that it secured exclusive rights from NewWorld TV, a Togolese broadcaster the company awarded broadcast rights for Sub-saharan African viewers.
“SuperSport will broadcast all 52 matches of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Ivory Coast 2023 (Afcon) live after MultiChoice secured the rights to broadcast the continent’s showpiece tournament, which kicks off on 13 January 2024 until 11 February 2024,” a statement posted via supersport.com read in part.
MultiChoice said it reached a commercially viable agreement with rightsholders, New World TV (NWTV), to broadcast the 34th edition of Africa’s premier men’s football competition taking place in Ivory Coast.
SuperSport CEO, Mr Rendani Ramovha, speaking excitingly of the development said: “We are delighted to be able to showcase the best of African football live to our viewers.”
Mr Nimonka KOLANI, Managing Director of NWTV said; “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.”
This website understands that although the broadcasting rights secured are “non-exclusive”, all AFCON matches will “be available on most bouquets on DStv and GOtv”, the development coming barely a week after the South African PayTV broadcaster said last week that it failed to acquire the broadcasting rights for AFCON.
This website reporter last Wednesday that MultiChoice had failed to clinch the rights to broadcast AFCON after the same were awarded to Togolese broadcaster, New World TV.
New World TV was in December last year awarded exclusive rights to broadcast all of CAF’s 13 competitions to the sub-Saharan African audience for two years.
The initial announcement by MultiChoice had left most football fans in sub-Saharan Africa unsure of their viewing of the forthcoming continental competition until today when the company made a grand U-turn in favour of its audience.
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