e.tv has lost the rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League (UCL) to pay-TV channel SuperSport, as of October 2015.
Managing director of e.tv’s channel division, Monde Twala, told The Media Online on Tuesday, 26 May, “e.tv is in its last season of the UEFA Champions League; SuperSport have acquired all the rights including pay-TV and free-to-air (FTA) as of October 2015. As a result we will no longer broadcast the championship next season’.
SuperSport communications manager, Clinton van den Berg, said that the channel had indeed acquired the rights to the UCL on all platforms as of next season.
Twala told The Media Online that sports rights were difficult to nail down for free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters due to budget constraints, “Sports rights are expensive and require investment. The FTA model is advertiser driven and therefore difficult to find models that create sustainable recoupment from an advertising or sponsorship perspective.’
SuperSport now holds exclusive broadcast rights to the Champions League, the PSL, and CAF rights.
Source: The Media Online
