MultiChoice Secures AFCON Broadcast Rights, To Air All Games Live

MultiChoice announced that it had secured the right to broadcast the African Cup of Nations a week after announcing that it had lost its broadcasting rights to New World TV

The parent company of DStv and GOtv, MultiChoice Group, has declared that games from the upcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be broadcast on its channels.

In a statement on Wednesday, the broadcast powerhouse said it reached “a commercially viable agreement” with New World TV, a Togolese audio-visual group and AFCON broadcast rights holder for sub-Saharan Africa.

Also, MutiChoice announced that all 52 of the competition's scheduled games will be televised on its SuperSport channels starting on Saturday.

“SuperSport to broadcast all AFCON games live after MultiChoice secures broadcast rights January 10, 2024- SuperSport will broadcast all 52 matches of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d'Ivoire 2023 (AFCON) live after MultiChoice secured the rights to broadcast the continent's showpiece tournament, which kicks off on 13 January 2024 until 11 February 2024,” the statement reads.

“MultiChoice reached a commercially viable agreement with rightsholders, New World TV (NWTV), to broadcast the 34th edition of Africa's premier men's football competition taking place in Ivory Coast.”

The announcement that MultiChoice was unable to secure the broadcasting rights for AFCON came a few weeks prior to this development.

Also Read: NTA Wins The Right To Broadcast The 2024 AFCON Exclusively

It was revealed that the company was beaten to the broadcasting rights by New World TV, a Togolese audio-visual group.

For a period of two years, New World TV was granted the exclusive right to telecast all thirteen CAF competitions to viewers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most football fans in sub-Saharan Africa are unsure of how they will watch the upcoming continental competition after MultiChoice's initial announcement.

Startimes had previously declared that it would broadcast every competition game after reaching a sublicensing agreement with New World TV.

In order to broadcast AFCON to Nigerian viewers, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) previously inked a memorandum of understanding with AfroSports TV, a cross-continental Free-To-Air (FTA) sports channel.

The Nigerian Super Eagles touched down in the Ivory Coast on Wednesday. 

The team is in Group A with Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and the hosts.

On January 14, Nigeria's first matchup is against Equatorial Guinea. Four days later, they play Ivory Coast, and the final group stage matchup is between Guinea and Bissau.