South African football fans who settled in for the new Betway Premiership season on Saturday found nothing to watch on the SABC. The public broadcaster, the free-to-air home of local football, confirmed it could not show a single opening fixture, not because of a technical hitch, but because a broadcast deal had not closed in time.
A familiar fight over rights
The sticking point is the SABC's negotiation with Canal+, the French media group that now owns MultiChoice and its DStv service. In its statement, the SABC said talks were progressing positively but the sub-licensing agreement had not yet been finalised, adding that it hoped to begin broadcasting Premiership matches from 15 August. It was not all bad news: the broadcaster did secure a separate Canal+ deal for the 2026 MTN8 cup on free-to-air. Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice CEO David Mignot said the two sides were still in engaging discussions about the rest of the free-to-air deal in this 30th season of the PSL. The standoff is not new: the SABC and the operator of DStv have clashed repeatedly over the cost and licensing of sports rights, and in 2023 government and three sponsors put up more than R50 million so the SABC could screen part of the Rugby World Cup after talks deadlocked.
Two cash-strapped broadcasters
What makes this round tense is that money is tight on both sides. Canal+ has cut costs hard since taking over MultiChoice, most dramatically by shutting down the Showmax streaming service after ploughing more than R5 billion into it, while DStv has lost about a third of its subscriber base, down to roughly 14 million. The SABC, meanwhile, has abandoned its goal of a R1 billion profit, which would have been its first in more than five years, and the Treasury now forecasts a R41.3 million loss as labour and content costs climb.
For now the blackout covers only the opening weekend, and both sides say a deal is close. But with two financially stretched broadcasters haggling over football, free-to-air fans will be watching the negotiating table as closely as the pitch.
