ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Nigerians can now heave a sigh of relief following the initial shock of knowing that DStv will not be showing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) matches live.
Reports had filled the media space that Multichoice will now be broadcasting AFCON on its DStv channels, a news which came in just a few days to the start of the football event.
This piece of news had thrown Nigerians who use the pay tv into a state of utter confusion, anger and rage as Multichoice, owners of DStv, had broadcasted every edition of the continental showpiece since 1992.
In a press release issued by the organization, it said: “SuperSport Channel will not broadcast the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 scheduled for January 13th to February 11th, 2024, because the channel has not secured the rights to broadcast the tournament.”
Reports say the DStv blackout is not unconnected to the new order in the African football television space after Togolese broadcaster, New World TV, won the Free-to-Air and Pay TV rights to all CAF competitions in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
The rights were previously held by the African Union of Broadcasters, SuperSport International, and Canal Plus.
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New World TV and CAF reportedly entered into a three-year deal as the rights holders of 13 competitions in total, which will include the 2023 and 2025 AFCON tournaments across 46 countries in the region, including South Africa.
This means that the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and free-to-air stations in the 46 countries looking to broadcast the AFCON and any other CAF competitions would now have to sublicense the rights through New World TV.
Despite this new development, however, Nigerians are able to watch AFCON matches on any of these four channels:
New World TV
New World TV is the Togo-based network which secured an exclusive three-year deal with CAF to air all of its competitions, including AFCON, across 46 African countries until 2025.
By this development, Nigerians can tune in to their network to see matches at the AFCON, especially for those who are very keen on watching their darling Super Eagles.
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
Nigeria’s most prominent television station, NTA, is another channel Nigerians can tune in to, to watch the 2023 AFCON.
For the records, NTA has been broadcasting live happenings at every AFCON on its popular NTA Sports 24, free to air, therefore, matches will be broadcast live from the Station.
Ziggo Sport
For Nigerian football fans in the diaspora, Ziggo Sport, a Dutch pay tv network will be airing the matches at the AFCON.
Reports say they secured an exclusive right to broadcast live action of two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2023 in Ivory Coast and 2025 in Morocco.
StarTimes
For those in Nigeria as well, StarTimes offers the option to watch live matches.
Nigerians can subscribe to watch all 52 matches of the 2023 AFCON on StarTimes sports channels or stream via the StarTimes ON mobile app.