E.TV and SUPERSPORT this week signed a deal to share the rights to broadcast the 2002 FIFA World Cup Soccer. In terms of the deal, E.TV has sublicensed SUPERSPORT to beam the games from South Korea and Japan through satellite to more than 40 African countries on its DSTV S3 channel. Games played simultaneously will be broadcast on SS3 and SS2. Marcel Golding, E-TV’s chief executive, said that the sublicensing arrangement with SUPERSPORT enabled his station to effectively exploit the rights purchased from KIRCHMEDIA, which cost them more than R80m last August, beating then-joint bidders SABC and SUPERSPORT by paying almost five times more. SUPERSPORT has also acquired E.TV’s rights to broadcast repeat matches as well as highlights packages. MTN said it was still in talks with E.TV over sponsorship and will make a decision in coming weeks. The World Cup is to run from 31 May to 30 June and five teams from Africa are included.

Source: Business Report