Pay channel DStv has seemingly pulled out of its sponsorship of the DStv Premiership before the contract came to an end, leaving the PSL in a state of desperation and despair.
Two well-placed insiders close to the events have confirmed to Sunday World the partnership is coming to an end. They said the news will come as a shock
Early contract termination
The contract still had a year running and was supposed to end in September next year. And this is likely to have a ripple effect and could affect the start of the much-anticipated 2024–25 season.
PSL bosses are running against time to find a sponsor before fixtures for the 2024–25 season are released. Normally, the fixture schedule is announced in mid-July so that clubs can plan and prepare properly.
The once-cash-flush commercial broadcaster is also the sponsor of the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC), which serves as the PSL’s reserve league.
“It’s not looking good. There are no funds to continue with the partnership and it looks like the league will have to find a new sponsor. The chairman of the league is said to be finalising something with a betting company. They will have to make an announcement soon because the league has to start with new branding and new sponsors,” said the insider, who opted to remain anonymous.
Delaying the inevitable
To keep things under wraps, the PSL used a clever ploy when they released a circular to their members that said clubs should not send over their new playing kit as the DStv Premiership logo on the sleeves was going to be redesigned. But it seems that was a plan to delay the inevitable and to buy some time until a new sponsor was found.
It is a known secret that DStv subscribers’ numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. The pay channel has been hit by a spate of subscriptions cancellations in the last couple of years and French powerhouse broadcaster Canal+ is rumoured to be on the verge of purchasing the ailing former giants
DStv took over the league sponsorship in 2020 after Absa pulled out in 2019. At that time, Absa had increased their PSL sponsorship to R40-million, with the team winning the league title getting a wholesome R15-million.
Crafty PSL chairman Irvin Khoza and MultiChoice, the parent company of DStv, announced on live television that the new sponsor would be DStv, effectively rebranding the league as the DStv Premiership.
Incidentally, SuperSport, another subsidiary of MultiChoice, are the league’s official broadcast partners. Public broadcasters SABC get a sub-licence from SuperSport to broadcast some matches on public television in South Africa.
SuperSport was awarded the R1-billion 5-year TV rights deal in 2007 by the Premier Soccer League to commercialise the league globally beyond South Africa.
DStv had not responded to enquiries at the time of publishing. This is a running story.
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