AFCON 2023: Why MultiChoice Made U-Turn On Beaming AFCON Tournament Live

By Akinwale Kasali

MultiChoice Company, owners of DSTV and GOTV rescinded its decision not to beam the African Cup of Nations tournament live following its failure to secure Television Rights for the continental competition.

Less than four days to the tournament, its Chief Executive Officer, Calvo Mawela, announced that the Company has secured the Television Rights in order not to deny its esteemed subscribers the fun and glitz of the African showpiece.

Last week, when the organization announced that it wouldn’t be showing the tournament, its subscribers had lamented on why they were paying huge sum as subscription and still denied access. But succour came their way when the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with a Company to beam the matches live, likewise its sister Company, StarTimes.

Sensing that it is on the verge of losing out with a reduction in the number of its subscribers, MultiChoice swung into action by doing everything within its means to get the Television Rights to bean AFCON live.

It was also gathered that due to the inability to show the AFCON Tournament, its subscribers decided not to subscribe for the next one month that the tournament will take place. In turn, MultiChoice will lose millions of Dollars in this regard as Nigeria is the country where it makes most of its revenue from due to the population of the country.

Despite their last minute U-Turn, the tendency of them getting a huge number of subscribers looks slim as many of their subscribers, especially those doing Viewing Centers(Outlets where people watch football and pay) have found other alternatives, which will no doubt affect their revenue.