South Africa national team football matches will be shown on free-to-air television in the country, according to pay-television broadcaster Siyaya TV, which has agreed a six-year rights deal with the South African Football Association (SAFA).
Siyaya said that it would work with other broadcasters, including public-service broadcaster the SABC, to provide coverage of games free-to-air, when its new rights deal starts in 2015.
The SABC, the incumbent rights-holder, held a meeting with the SAFA on Monday to receive assurances that it would still be able to show national team games beyond the expiration of the broadcaster’s deal at the end of April 2015.
According to the BDLive news website, Siyaya TV has committed to making the matches accessible to broader audiences to “avoid a political backlash.”
It emerged over the weekend that Siyaya TV had acquired rights for all national team men’s, women’s and age-group team matches, from 2015-16 to 2020-21.