SuperSport has announced that it will not be broadcasting Confederation of African Football (Caf) matches after the termination of Lagardere’s television rights.
Caf announced earlier this week that they have terminated a $1-billion TV and marketing-rights deal with the French-based company after Lagardere was adjudged to have breached competition rules.
As a result, SuperSport has since announced a blackout of all Caf content following the termination of its agency agreement with French broadcast company Lagardère Sports.
The blackout means that fans across the continent will not be able to watch the Africa U23 Cup of Nations, 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Caf Champions League and Confederations Cup group stage as well as Bafana Bafana’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations back-to-back qualifiers away to Ghana and Sudan next week.
SuperSport has since released the following statement:
‘Due to the termination by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of its agency agreement with Lagardere, SuperSport will not be broadcasting CAF content, commencing with the Afcon U23 championship, starting in Egypt this weekend, until further notice. This also extends to the Afcon qualifiers, which resume on Wednesday, 13 November.
‘We are in a difficult position where we cannot broadcast the CAF games when we don’t have a firm contractual arrangement in place. SuperSport had previously acquired these broadcast rights from Lagardere,’ commented Joe Heshu, MultiChoice group executive for corporate affairs.