Pay-television sports broadcaster SuperSport, says it has agreed a multi-year television and digital rights partnership with US basketball league the NBA.
The deal is historic as it is the first time NBA action will be available on SuperSport. The broadcast giants will offer content, live games and other programming across 47 territories in sub-Saharan Africa.
Expressing delight at what is arguably the company’s most lucrative partnerships, Brandon Foot, SuperSport’s Head of Acquisitions and Legal said: “This is unquestionably one of the jewels in our crown. Some of the greatest names in sport have played in the NBA, so it is only fitting that they come to the ‘World of Champions’ where the best sport is broadcast.
“Basketball has gained a strong foothold in Africa, so we are delighted to acquire rights to one of the biggest and best-run leagues in world sport. We will now proudly broadcast the most NBA action on the continent.”
From the kick-off of the 2013-14 season, SuperSport will televise three live games per week exclusively.
The broadcast giants will also televise the NBA All-Star, Playoffs and Finals events in multiple languages. The deal also gaurantees SuperSport is allowed coverage of regular season games to be played in Europe.
A digital media content angle of the deal will see NBA.com/Africa, the Basketball body’s official website for fans in Africa, hosted on SuperSport’s website to provide fans with lots of exciting and exclusive content including news, localised content, blogs and extensive video highlights.
NBA’s Vice President for Development, Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall also expressed satisfaction with partnering with the African broadcast giants. “SuperSport is a leading sports destination in Africa both on television and online and they are an ideal partner as we look to bring more NBA content to our fans,” he said. “Together with SuperSport we will be providing fans with more access to the NBA, our dynamic players, and storied franchises on multiple platforms as we further the growth of the game on the continent.”
The rights acquisition deal follows closely on the heels of ESPN’s decision to terminate its broadcast in African continents as the sports channel previously held the rights to televise NBA to African audiences on DSTV.
SuperSport is a South African group of television channels owned by Multichoice and carried on the DStv satellite platform.
