SuperSport no longer super? What it means for South African fans

South African sports fans may soon need to diversify where they get their live action from as the sports broadcasting landscape shifts.  

French group Canal+’s acquisition of MultiChoice has brought significant changes to DStv and the SuperSport bouquet. 

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Nqobile Ndlovu, sports business researcher at Cash N Sport, says South Africans have been spoilt for choice with SuperSport’s offerings.

“South Africans have been spoilt for choice. Nobody else does what MultiChoice and SuperSport have been doing for the last 20 years…  There is no other broadcaster in the world that has the bouquet of sport that SuperSport does.”

But the challenges facing SuperSport, such as sports rights costs and the difficulty of competing with new players, remain.

“We are not always playing in US dollars… So, you have to take this piecemeal arrangement of various currencies and put it together into a package to bid for these rights, Continentally. You are bidding against bidders who are dollar-based across the board.”

He added that the SABC is not out of the running yet, though constrained by finances.

“At the present moment, they’re relying on sponsors to help them pay for rights… Just because it is free to air doesn’t mean they air it for free,” he said.

To listen to Ndlovu in conversation with CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit, use the audio player below: