The SABC will air soccer matches for the 2024/2025 season of the English Premier League (EPL).
The public broadcaster said on Friday that it has acquired the free-to-air rights to flight 33 live EPL matches through SABC Sport, with SABC 3, the SABC Sport website and SABC+ also to carry the games live.
The matches will also be flighted on the relevant SABC channels via eMedia’s Openview platform.
In recent months, the exclusion Openview from sports sublicensing deals between the SABC and MultiChoice Group subsidiary SuperSport has been a bone of major contention between South Africa’s broadcasters.
In the latest iteration of this saga, the SABC at the last minute pulled out of a deal with SuperSport for the broadcast of the T20 Cricket World Cup final as well as the recent Springboks/Irish rugby test series. This time, it seems, none of the SABC’s platforms has been excluded from the EPL deal.
“The acquisition of the league has always been a strategic direction of the SABC. The English Premier League creates various marketing opportunities for SABC Sport and other SABC brands,” said Keletso Totlhanyo, the broadcaster’s head of sport.
Arsenal vs Wolverhampton
The SABC acquired the free-to-air rights directly from main rightsholder Infront Sports and Media, a Swedish company whose media rights portfolio includes the World Athletics Championship, various European basketball leagues and the ESerie A e-sports league.
The first game to be broadcast by the SABC will be Arsenal vs Wolverhampton on 17 August. All live matches will include a live studio build-up, with match previews and team news, presented by SABC Sport anchors and analysts on both TV and digital platforms. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
