SuperSport have announced late this afternoon that it will not be broadcasting any CAF content following the abrupt termination of television rights between the continent’s governing body and agency Lagardere Sports.
CAF announced earlier today that it had cancelled a $1-billion TV and marketing rights deal with the French-based company following a judgement that it had breached competition rules, though Lagardere insisted it would go to war to make sure the contract remains in place
And now SuperSport, who had acquired the rights directly from the French agency, have announced a black-out of all CAF content.
The statement from SuperSport read as follows:
Due to the termination by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of its agency agreement with Lagardere, SuperSport will not be broadcasting CAF content, commencing with the Afcon under-23 championship, starting in Egypt this weekend, until further notice. This also extends to the Afcon qualifiers, which resume on Wednesday, 13 November.
“We are in a difficult position where we cannot broadcast the CAF games when we don’t have a firm contractual arrangement in place. SuperSport had previously acquired these broadcast rights from Lagardere,” commented Joe Heshu, MultiChoice Group Executive for Corporate Affairs.
It means South African will not be able to watch Mamelodi Sundowns and Bidvest Wits, who will begin their CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup group stage assignments later this month. SuperSport will also not be able broadcast Bafana Bafana’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations back to back qualifiers away to Ghana and Sudan next week.
