The Story ⚡
For the first time in a long while, Multichoice is a sub-licensor of African sports rights from a competitor in the broadcast business
Tell Me More
The 34th edition of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations will be held from the 13th of January to 11 February 2024 in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
The brightest African Global soccer superstars will be showcasing their talents as they compete for National Honours and bragging rights.
The participating countries are Ivory Coast, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Egypt, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, DR Congo, Mauritania, Gambia, Cameroon, Namibia
Multichoice Supersports channels announced they won’t be showing the AFCON matches live.
The inability of the Supersports channels to initially meet these expectations is understood to be a consequence of the South African-based media giants needing to acquire licensing or even sublicensing rights for the Competition.
Exclusive coverage of the competition had been handed to Togo-based New World TV by CAF in a deal that had been described as Historic.
For the tournament to air to Multichoice, a sub-licensing deal from New World TV had to take place.
Multichoice were unable to agree terms and decided they weren’t going to show the tournament.
This announcement caused dismay and vocal frustration from a huge swathe of the African Population when they realised they would not get to see the likes of the industrious Sadio Mane, Liverpool’s electric Mo Salah, the thunderous Victor Osihmien (Reigning African Men’s Player of the year) and many more soccer stars in action.
Plans had been made based on the assumption that Supersports would show the matches. With Operations in over 50 countries, Multichoice through Supersports is responsible for meeting the needs of a huge segment of Africa’s sports viewership.
The African Cup of Nations is the biggest footballing event in Africa, Consumers were furious, so back to the negotiation table it was.
On the 10th of January, 2024 Multichoice after finalising agreements with New World TV, announced that it will now show all 54 matches of the 2023 African Cup Of Nations.
Key Background
Togo-based New World TV has been making waves recently.
The media outfit founded in 2015 secured pay-TV rights in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
New World TV had also acquired the French language pay-TV rights across French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa for the FIFA Arab Cup 2021, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2023, and the FIFA men’s and women’s youth tournaments that took place in 2022 and 2023.
New World TV’s recent deal with the Confédération Africaine de Football is an agreement for CAF’s Free Air and Pay-TV English and Local Languages Media Rights for Sub-Saharan territories for CAF Competitions and Events from 2023-2025.
Tangent
Basically, New World TV has rights to everything CAF does for all African Regions outside North Africa from now to 2025—a big bold move in their bid to cement themselves as a titan of the industry.
The 2024 Women’s African Cup Of Nations and the 2025 AFCON both to be hosted by Morocco would fall under this deal. As well as a host of junior tournaments and the CAF Champions League.
Multichoice and other Sub-Saharan African sporting media outfits need to go to New World TV to get rights for these competitions.
How much advantage can New World TV press with these exclusive broadcast rights?
In Summary
The AFCON 2023 Kickoffs with the fixture between hosts Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Bussau at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan at 21:00 WAT. Catch it live on Supersports PSL.
Fans across the world can catch the 54 matches on platforms like NEW WORLD TV, DSTV and GOTV, STARTIMES, NTA, SABC, CANAL+, SKY SPORTS, and BEINSPORTS.
