StarTimes picks up Copa América rights in sub-Saharan Africa

Pan-African pay-television broadcaster StarTimes has acquired rights to the upcoming edition of the Copa América national team football tournament.

The Nigerian Xpress newspaper reported that StarTimes will hold exclusive rights to the tournament across sub-Saharan Africa. Coverage will be shown on its five sports channels and on the StarTimes ON streaming platform.

The broadcaster will hold exclusive English-language rights on all platforms, and non-exclusive rights in French and Portuguese-speaking markets.

The 2019 Copa América will take place from June 14 to July 7 in Brazil. The 10 South American teams will be joined by invitational teams in the shape of Japan and Qatar.

The deal bolsters StarTimes’ football-rights portfolio. Last month, the broadcaster acquired rights to the final of Spain’s Copa del Rey, while in November it renewed a rights deal for the Coppa Italia in English, French, Portuguese and indigenous languages.

StarTimes has also acquired a host of other football properties in recent months, capitalising on Kwesé TV’s financial difficulties.