MultiChoice scores big with soccer on screen
DStv s newly announced sponsorship of the local Premier Soccer League (PSL) further cements MultiChoice s hold on local sport, and
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may give it an unfair advantage over its competitors.
MultiChoice, through SuperSport, already holds the broadcasting rights for PSL soccer matches after a 2007 deal valued at more than R1.6bn. The contract was renewed for five years in 2011 and rose in value to more than R2bn.
In 2019, when the arrangement was under threat from regulators, PSL chair Irvin Khoza said the rights accounted for about 80% of the league s
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annual revenues.
At the time, Khoza criticised the Independent Communications Authority of SA for its proposed amendments to the Sport Broadcasting Services Regulation, which would effectively cancel the PSL s ability to sell
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exclusive rights to the highest bidder or pay-TV operators such as DStv greatly reducing the
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value of those rights.
The new sponsorship further entrenches DStv s place in local
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soccer.
Strategically, SuperSport has long been a major draw for DStv customers looking for live sport, locally and internationally. The company owns the majority of sports broadcasting rights across various leagues, also contributing to disciplines such as SA rugby and cricket, the nation s two other staples.
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In July, MultiChoice brought back content from US-based broadcaster, ESPN, onto DStv in a deal that saw two channels being added to the platform. The group s dominant posi
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tion may be something competition authorities should look into. The question is, can DStv s com
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petition shell out as much money or even afford to keep sport alive as MultiChoice can?
POWER STRUGGLES
As the energy crisis hanging over SA s head ’ reaches breaking point, could last week s gazetting of ’ 11,800MW of new power be the light at the end of the tunnel that the SA economy so desperately needs?
President Cyril Ramaphosa seems to think so, trumpeting in his weekly newsletter that the gazetting of the ministerial determinations will enable the development of the additional power, which equates to more than a third of the 30,000MW already used by SA each day. This, in turn, will enable the growth of the economy and attract investment.
The key question that follows the news of the forthcoming 11,800MW is who the buyer will be.
One might assume it will be Eskom, in some form or another. After all, the utility is working towards an aggressive deadline to unbundle into three business units transmission, distribu
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tion and generation by the end
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of 2021.
But the all-important question of the debt remains completely and utterly unanswered. With debt pile R488bn high and not enough to cover monthly debt service costs, Eskom is not in a position to buy much, let alone 11,800MW of new power. Let s also not forget that a few
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years ago the utility refused to sign power purchase agreements with selected independent power projects, claiming it could not afford it and causing inordinate delays.
It is the most impossible of conundrums the utility and the government face, and the continued silence on this front is worrying indeed.