Stalemate over sport broadcasts

The SABC and MultiChoice have once again reached a stalemate over sports broadcast rights, failing to reach a sub-licensing agreement, which means most South Africans are unlikely to have access to Cricket World Cup matches.

The SABC and MultiChoice have once again reached a stalemate over sports broadcast rights, failing to reach a sub-licensing agreement, which means the majority of South Africans are unlikely to have access to Cricket World Cup matches.

MultiChoice, which owns DStv, dominates the market partly because it has exclusive contracts for premium and international content, such as high-profile rugby matches, the local Premier Soccer League (PSL), the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga and the Uefa Champions League.

“After prolonged negotiations, the SABC last night rejected MultiChoice’s latest proposal for a possible sub-licence of broadcast rights to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on the basis of the proposed licence fee,” Africa’s largest pay TV operator said on Tuesday.

“This is notwithstanding MultiChoice offering the rights to the SABC on significantly reduced commercial terms, given its current circumstances.

“MultiChoice is disappointed at the rejection of its various proposals.”

The cricket tournament — held once every four years — starts on Thursday. The Proteas have their opening match against Sri Lanka two days later on Saturday.

Over the years, MultiChoice and the public broadcaster have been at loggerheads over the cost and licensing of sports broadcast rights.

The government recently had to step in, paying more than R50m together with three sponsors so that the SABC could show a limited portion of the ongoing Rugby World Cup.

The SABC and MultiChoice had been locked in protracted negotiations over the rugby showcase until the department of sport intervened.

Outside the SABC’s fight, broadcast rights are a crucial financial lifeline for SA’s three main sporting codes: soccer, rugby and cricket.

REVENUE

According to the SA Rugby Union’s financial statements for 2022, broadcast revenue was R827m while sponsorship income reached R412m, out of a total R1.547bn.

This means broadcast accounted for 53% of income for the national rugby body.

Similar trends can be seen with cricket and soccer, where DStv is also the main sponsor of local soccer league the SA Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership.

In 2022, the SABC filed a complaint with the Competition Commission against DStv’s SuperSport, arguing that the company had resorted to anticompetitive and exclusionary behaviour, presumably to block the public broadcaster’s recently launched dedicated sports channel from getting off the ground.

The SABC’s main gripe was that MultiChoice, which holds the rights of many of the lucrative sporting codes largely because of its financial muscle, places unfair restrictions on where the public broadcaster can flight sub-licensed matches.

The public broadcaster generally buys the rights to air matches via MultiChoice, which monopolises sports coverage.

The public broadcaster has been working to turn itself around, entering into a multiyear distribution agreement with free-to-air satellite service OpenView paving the way for it to launch three new channels, including one dedicated to sports coverage.

With OpenView having a presence in as many as 3-million households, the SABC saw its sports channel as central to its turnaround strategy as it pushes to return to profitability.

THE SABC GENERALLY BUYS THE RIGHTS TO AIR MATCHES VIA MULTICHOICE, WHICH MONOPOLISES SPORTS COVERAGE