SA Rugby and Canal+ Sign Rights Renewal Agreement

SA Rugby and the CANAL+ Group, MultiChoice Group’s parent company, have concluded the renewal of their multi-year domestic broadcast rights agreement.

The renewal of the agreement will see SuperSport, Africa’s leading sports broadcaster, continue to be the only official broadcast rights holder for all SARU’s domestic competitions and Springbok women’s and junior age-group matches in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This announcement is the first of its kind with a major local sports federation since CANAL+ joined forces with the MultiChoice Group in September last year, reaffirming CANAL+’s long-term commitment to local sport.

SuperSport has been a proud SA Rugby broadcast partner for more than 30 years.

SARU President Mark Alexander said: “We are very happy to have concluded our first agreement with the MultiChoice Group and CANAL+ Group after a thorough and extensive series of engagements. They have demonstrated a shared understanding of the importance of rugby to the South African public and we trust this is the first of many such agreements.”

CANAL+ Africa CEO David Mignot was delighted with the continuation of the domestic rights agreement, which will make all domestic rugby matches available exclusively on SuperSport.

'PROUD MOMENT'

In South Africa, the SuperSport channels are supplied by Canal + Africa to MultiChoice (Pty) Ltd, which provides the DStv offering to subscribers.

“As promised, we are doubling down on our investment in local content, including the sports content that matters the most to people on the continent. In the South African market, rugby has grown into becoming a part of the national psyche – as evidenced by the national euphoria that erupted each time the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup,” said Mignot.

SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer added: “Broadcasting rights are fundamental to the health and sustainability of sport in South Africa and rugby is no different. SuperSport has been a long-standing and trusted partner to South African rugby, and we are delighted to continue our partnership.

“The world of rugby and broadcasting has changed significantly since we signed our first agreement in the 1990s but it is a testimony to our mutual interests that the partnership continues to endure.”

Rendani Ramovha, CANAL+ Director for Sports Content in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa : “The renewal of the domestic broadcast agreement is not just the strengthening of our long-standing partnership with SA Rugby but a victory for DStv viewers and subscribers, who have come to trust us to bring the best sports content to them in our world-class broadcast quality.

“To be able to continue this promise is a proud moment for us, and it reaffirms our commitment to the sports fan. We’re grateful to our partners at SA Rugby for their collaborative spirit.”

Could SuperSport Be Looking To Revamp The Variety Channels In More MultiChoice Territories?

A few years ago, MultiChoice Africa decided to away with it's Variety 2-4 channels by folding them under Africa 1 and 2 with select content on SuperSport Action. This left them with Variety 1 which is likely due for a major overhaul.

Of course, these changes have yet to take affect in South Africa and it's not known whether SuperSport will make similar arrangements as tests are underway for another TV channel.

Speculated to be SuperSport Play, this channel takes a page of Variety 4 and features a lot of local content and highlights from premium sports channels. It also serves as overflow for various sporting events like Varsity Cup and PSA.

MultiChoice made SuperSport Play available to its Free-To-View customers on DStv Stream alongside paying consumers. Now under French giant Canal+, they might be looking to make it accessible of course nothing is confirmed as yet.

Of course, this channel they've been testing out for a while now had also been airing events live on Variety 2 almost like a simulcast with variations in certain timeslots. Maybe this channel in question will lead to a restructure of the existing Variety offering.

If it's SuperSport Play, I'd imagine they'd want to readjust the lineup a bit perhaps remove all that content from Blitz seeing as it's accessible across packages. That is what happened with SuperSport Schools when it was only viewable on DStv Stream.