The battle over soccer television rights was settled on Thursday in an agreement in which the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will screen 143 Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches.
The agreement between the PSL, pay channel SuperSport and the public broadcaster gives the SABC exclusive screening rights to 110 matches, the three parties said in a joint statement.
The broadcaster will also screen 33 games concurrently with SuperSport.
Meanwhile, SuperSport will exclusively screen more than 100 games.
SABC CEO Dali Mpofu said matches on the broadcaster’s free-to-air channels would include those involving leading PSL teams, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of PSL competitions and the Mvela Golden League’s PSL promotion-regulation play-off matches.
PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza said he was pleased that the matter had been resolved.
”The PSL now ensures that more than double the number of matches that were previously broadcast will now be shown on television.”
The deal with SuperSport had taken the PSL into the top 15 ranked leagues in the world in regard to commercial broadcast deals, he said.
SuperSport CEO Imtiaz Patel said the agreement was ”in the best interests of the soccer-loving South African public”.
The pay-to-air channel had sold the broadcast rights to the SABC for the matches the public broadcaster would screen, said SuperSport spokesperson Guy Hawthorne.
Last month the PSL announced that SuperSport had been awarded a R1-billion contract to broadcast matches for the next five years.
The deal sparked widespread and heated responses over the public’s access to free-to-air matches.
In terms of the agreement between the parties, the SABC has filed a notice of withdrawal with regards to a court application against the PSL, SuperSport and e.tv, which was set for hearing on July 31.
The SABC retained the right to pursue pending arbitration proceedings that would be separate discussions with the PSL.
The parties said they were ”delighted that it has become possible to provide football to the majority of South African citizens”.
”The parties are committed to a lasting partnership that will benefit both the sport of football and the South African public.” — Sapa