This will come as a huge shock to the football fraternity considering the service company operated by Multichoice still has a year remaining on a deal that was struck in September 2020 after taking over from ABSA.
An investigation by the public broadcaster has revealed that the discussion now is around whether to cut ties with immediate effect or attempt to find ways to see out the final year without any severe financial implications.
Furthermore, it’s emerged that DStv are concerned about continuing to carry the costs of a partnership that runs into multimillions per season.
With the mooted change of ownership after French media conglomerate Vivendi, the owner of Canal+, announced a firm offer for DStv and Showmax owner MultiChoice, there remains uncertainty over the future of Africa’s biggest pay tv company.
DStv had stepped in when ABSA pulled the plug on a link that existed for more than a decade as the Premier Division backers since 2007, with the PSL financials at the time showing that the revenue from the bank was in the region of R137-million.
It’s not clear just how much DStv put on the table when the five-year deal was confirmed and announced because the league hasn’t made available its financials to the public since the 2019/20 campaign, which was largely affected by the Covid pandemic.
But SABC Sport has been informed it has been slightly lowered, although still well over R100-million per annum.
What was evident is that there was not a lot of disruption given it was business as usual in the domestic league, especially with SuperSport International as broadcasters forking out R600-million per season.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza has always been adamant that the television rights deal was the lifeblood of a lot of the clubs, some who do not have sponsors and rely on the R2-million grant from the league.
Talks are ongoing to find a replacement title partner either before the 2024/25 season gets underway next month or in the campaign that follows.
Betway, the online gambling company, has been mentioned as a strong candidate.
Efforts to get a comment from both DStv and the PSL proved futile with no response from either organisation at the time of going to print.
The only communication to come from the league to clubs was last week requesting Premiership teams to hold off on finalising their kits as there was work being done on the new “Premier Division logo” for the upcoming season.
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