Last year, MultiChoice decided to do away with Showmax PRO which served as a digital version to SuperSport's linear offering on DStv. It featured PSL, La Liga, UEFA Champions League, Moto GP and Formula One all of which had been folded on DStv Stream.
MultiChoice looks to prioritise Premier League as part of the revamped Showmax streaming service which will feature all 380 matches live. With the winding down of sports on Showmax one has to wonder when the pay-tv platform will look to hit it home.
SuperSport offers over 10 sports channels which is more than Sky Sports in the UK can offer. Majority of channels are tailored for football with various others for tennis, motorsports, golf and rugby but the thing about Sky is majority of this don't have their own platform.
For several years, MultiChoice has been struggling to sustain their top tier bouquets over the likes of Netflix and IPTV. This has led to channels being cut down if consolidated on lower tailored bouquets as the pay-tv company looks to rollout an unbundled package.
Similar to AddMovies, sports will serve as an add-on and not like a standalone service as seen in parts of Europe. Again, with the decline of linear consumption it wouldn't seem far fetched if MultiChoice were to look at restructuring the sports line-up on DStv.
Earlier, they opted not to acquire AFCON granting the rights to SABC and StarTimes. According to sources, they want put more emphasis on European football which kind of brings questions pertaining to the future of PSL and La Liga standalone services.
As mentioned, Sky Sports doesn't have that much of a wider linear offering if anything it's more like how SuperSport previously set up their content. Instead of golf and tennis operating as separate entities it's more like how SuperSport Variety is currently set up.
If anything, Sky Sports' linear offering revolves on dominance which is football, rugby and cricket while some other sports are packaged like SuperSport Variety.
With SuperSport prioritising European football, perhaps La Liga and PSL will be folded under one channel, SuperSport Football Plus. SuperSport Premier League could serve as the linear counterpart to the one boarding Showmax while non-performing channels fold under SuperSport Variety.
Summary of possible outcome for SuperSport
• SuperSport PSL and La Liga become SuperSport Football Plus
• SuperSport Tennis and Golf are folded under SuperSport Variety reducing repeats
• SuperSport Blitz, Grandstand, Premier League, Action, Rugby, Variety 1-4, Cricket, Motorsports and Schools remain intact.
• In total, SuperSport would be operating 14 channels with Ginx TV, 2 ESPN channels and Racing240 MultiChoice has 18 sports channels.
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