The Premier Soccer League, organising body of the top two divisions of South African football, has extended the tender process for its next set of media rights, with a number of parties in contention for the packages on offer.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza said the decision to extend the process was made following a request from public-service broadcaster SABC.
The tender takes in television‚ IPTV‚ internet and mobile rights for the PSL’s competitions across the 2019 to 2024 seasons in sub-Saharan Africa.
The PSL issued the tender at the beginning of November‚ indicating that the process would close on November 10. However, following the PSL’s annual general meeting, Khoza said, according to South African newspaper The Times: “We briefed the members of PSL about the broadcasting rights which were supposed to be finalised today (Wednesday) but we’ve had to extend the deadline until Friday.
“This was prompted by SABC asking for an extra week because of the appointment of its new board. We gave them that extension to make sure that they get the equal chance. But what was also unique was that this time around we got applications from Vodacom‚ Telkom and Kwese Sports. So it will be quite interesting to see what will be the outcome of these bids.”
The PSL is expected to award the rights before the end of the year. SuperSport, the pay-television broadcaster that operates in sub-Saharan Africa, currently holds a five-year contract with the PSL that is due to expire at the end of the ongoing 2017-18 campaign.