SABC and StarTimes Secure AFCON Rights in NWTV Sub-Licensing Deals

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the country's state broadcaster, and StarTimes, the pay-television operator in sub-Saharan Africa, have secured broadcasting rights to the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) national teams soccer tournament. The broadcasters have agreed sub-licensing deals with New World TV (NWTV), the Togo-based satellite television network that recently acquired media rights to all Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions for the next three years. SABC will show all 52 AFCON matches in South Africa across its TV channels, radio stations, and digital platforms, while StarTimes will provide coverage across sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa, matches will be aired live on SABC 1, SABC 3, SABC Sport Channel, and SABC radio stations. SABC Plus and sabcsport.com will also offer free live streaming of all the games, as well as delayed coverage. SABC Sport’s social media channels on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) will offer live commentary of the matches. As well as live games, SABC’s coverage will include daily AFCON preview and review shows, highlights, and news. StarTimes will show all 52 matches exclusively on its Sports Premium, Sports Life, and Beta Sports channels. The broadcaster continues its partnership with CAF having aired the 2019-2022 AFCON and the 2020 African Nations Championship. The 2023 AFCON will be held in the Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 14. South Africa will begin their campaign against Mali on January 16. The country has also been drawn in a group alongside Namibia and Tunisia. In addition, SABC Sport and StarTimes have also acquired live rights to the rest of the CAF competitions through 2024. This includes the AFCON 2025 qualifiers, 2024 African Nations Championship, 2023-24 CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup, 2024 Africa Women Cup of Nations, 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League, and 2024 CAF Super Cup. MultiChoice, the sub-Saharan African broadcast heavyweight, last week announced its SuperSport pay-TV service will not broadcast the 2023 AFCON after failing to a secure broadcast rights agreement with NWTV. The loss of rights to AFCON is a major blow to MultiChoice, with the media giant having broadcast every edition since 1992. NWTV secured an exclusive three-year deal with CAF in November to air all its competitions, including AFCON, across 46 African countries until 2025.