Pan-African pay-television operator MultiChoice has opened up its premium SuperSport channels to non-subscribers until April 30 as the Covid-19 outbreak begins to affect the African market.
SuperSport channels 1 and 7 will be freely available on MultiChoice’s DStv satellite Compact and Compact Plus packages for the next six weeks with both ordinarily only available as part of its Premium package.
MultiChoice boasts roughly 12m subscribers across sub-Saharan Africa with the move affecting all customers across the region.
The move followed calls from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) which had pressured MultiChoice to make all pay-television content free-to-air during the coronavirus pandemic.
MultiChoice is currently the subject of an Icasa review in which the regulatory body is claiming MultiChoice has a stranglehold upon the South African pay-television market.
MultiChoice’s SuperSport is the dominant pay-television sports broadcaster in sub-Saharan Africa and has been hit badly by the pandemic with several of its marquee properties hit by either postponements or cancellations.
These properties include the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A and French Open tennis.