South Africa public-service broadcaster the SABC plans to use recently-acquired NBA basketball rights to help launch a long-mooted new sports channel in South Africa on October 1.
“This is about catering for the sports channel so that when we do get it, we will have the right content to interest people,” Sizwe Nzimande, the head of sport at the country’s public-service broadcaster told the South African Press Association news agency, referring to the NBA rights deal that the broadcaster had just announced. “We are hoping to go live on October 1.”
Launching a dedicated sports channel has been a long-term plan of the SABC. Competition from pay-television broadcaster Supersport has squeezed the public-service broadcaster’s portfolio of rights, has made it more difficult to launch the channel, the South African Press Association said.
The SABC believes the multi-year NBA rights deal that was announced on Tuesday – and reported by TV Sports Markets in February (TV Sports Markets newsletter edition 16:4) – can underpin the new channel.
Nzimande said the SABC had acquired the rights for a “very, very special rate” in a deal directly with the US basketball league. He said the league’s goal with the deal was to increase exposure in South Africa, a key potential growth market for basketball, rather than generate large rights fee income.
Amadou Gallo Fall, the NBA’s vice president for development in Africa, said the deal had taken two years to complete. He said the league would actively seek out local companies to advertise around the SABC’s coverage.