SuperSport (South African TV channel)

SuperSport is a South Africa-based Pan-Africa group of television channels carried on the DStv satellite platform. It provides sports content in South Africa and many other African countries.[1]

SuperSport
Channel logo as of July 2012
Launched1988 as Sports segment on M-Net, 1995 as a single complete channel.
Owned byMultiChoice
Picture format1080i 16:9, 4:3)(HDTV)
Downscaled to 576i for the SDTV feed
Audience share6.2% (16 October 2014, External TV)
Slogan"World of Champions"
CountryAfrica
LanguageAfrikaans
English
Sotho
Xhosa
Zulu
Broadcast areaSub-Saharan Africa
AffiliatesESPN
Sky Sports
Sony TEN
Fox Sports Australia
HeadquartersJohannesburg
Formerly calledM-Net SuperSport (1988–1994)
WebsiteSuperSport.com
Availability
Terrestrial
M-NetM-Net (as a sports feed during important events)
CSN
Satellite
DStvChannels 200–221
Streaming media
SuperSport.comLive SuperSport Streaming online

The channel broadcasts most of the major sporting events and leagues of association football, rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, motorsport, cycling, boxing, wrestling, hockey, athletics. It was previously the world's biggest broadcaster of live rugby and cricket (having been overtaken by Sky Sports), and also the world's second biggest Premier League broadcaster, broadcasting matches live and, where possible, in HD through the Premier League's Content Service Sr.[2]

Apart from its satellite channels, SuperSport also feeds content to M-Net, CSN and occasionally to M-Net HD.

History

In 1986, M-Net was launched as South Africa's first pay-television channel and, along with Canal+, only the second outside of the United States. The channel immediately showed its intention to include sport in its programming line-up, by securing exclusive rights of an important Currie Cup match between Transvaal and Western Province for its first ever broadcast. From 1988, sports coverage on M-Net ran under the banner of M-Net SuperSport.

M-Net SuperSport expanded its range of coverage, including live overseas rugby, cricket, golf, boxing and cycling. Following South Africa's readmission into international cricket, SuperSport scored another marketing coup by securing exclusive rights to the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

When rugby turned professional in 1995, a deal was struck between the newly formed SANZAR and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. In South Africa, SuperSport was awarded exclusive broadcasting rights of the Super 12 competition, as well as the Tri Nations. Following this deal, rugby gradually ceased broadcasting on the SABC, while SuperSport became a carrier of live rugby broadcasts.

At the same time, Naspers expanded its pay-television operations to a satellite carrier. With the launch of DStv in 1995, SuperSport became a multi-channel network and an independent brand, although it was still primarily associated with M-Net. The network made full use of the satellite platform to expand its sports offering: For the Olympic Games, six channels are generally used for live events.

In 2007, the SABC lost its exclusive rights to the local Premier Soccer League (PSL) to SuperSport, in a deal worth R1.6 billion. The deal stipulated that some matches had to be shared with the SABC. In August 2011, SuperSport renewed its contract with the PSL for another five years.

Since 2011, SuperSport's association with M-Net began to fade, when M-Net split its terrestrial feed from its DStv channel. DStv viewers can no longer watch sports events on M-Net, although terrestrial subscribers still get feeds on the main channel, as well as the Community Services Network (CSN).

A Premier Soccer League team bears the channel's name. SuperSport United F.C. was originally known as Pretoria City but bought by M-Net in 1995 after which it was renamed.

On August 8, 2020, SuperSport announced a gradual makeover/revamp of its channels, meaning the numbering of the channels since the channel's commencement of expansion in 2003 such as SuperSport 3 would be replaced with specific-sport TV channels which they "enhances the sports viewers' experience" and "makes it easier to find and watch a favorite league, competition or sport". The revamp would be operational from September 1, 2020 onwards.[3]

List of channels
  • SuperSport 1 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 1A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 1N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 1 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 2 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 2A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 2N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 2 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 3 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 3A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 3N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 3 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 4 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 4A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 4N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 4 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 5 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • Supersport 5A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 5N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 5 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 6 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 6A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 6N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 6 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 7 HD (South Africa & Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 7N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 7A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 7 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 8N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 8A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 8 HD (Southern Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 8 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 9 (Southern Africa)
  • SuperSport 9N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 9 (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 9A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 10 (Southern Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 10N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 10A (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 10 (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 11N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 11 HD (Southern Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 11 (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 12 HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport 12N (Nigeria)
  • SuperSport 12 HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport Blitz HD (South Africa and Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport Blitz HD Nigeria
  • SuperSport Blitz HD Africa (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport Blitz HD (P) (Rest of Africa)
  • Supersport Select (South Africa and Benin)
  • SuperSport Select 1 (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport Select 2 (Rest of Africa)
  • SuperSport Máximo 1 (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 1 (P) (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 2 (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 2 (P) (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 3 (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 3 (P) (Portuguese Channel)
  • SuperSport Máximo 360 (Angola,Cape Verde and Mozambique only)

SuperSport 1 HD

SuperSport 1 is the channel which focuses mainly on rugby. It shows all national team rugby matches live, as well as all Super Rugby fixtures, the Currie Cup, Varsity Rugby and certain top high school and club matches. Most matches have commentary in both English and Afrikaans, with a growing number also featuring a Xhosa feed.[4] SuperSport 1 also broadcasts live golf.

As the world's largest broadcaster of live rugby, SuperSport's commentators read like a "who's who" of South African rugby greats. Current lead commentators in English are Matthew Pearce, Hugh Bladen, Gavin Cowley, Owen Nkumane and Paul Stubbs, while their analyst pool includes Joel Stransky, Gcobani Bobo, Bobby Skinstad, Breyton Paulse, Nick Mallett, Ashwin Willemse, Kobus Wiese, Victor Matfield, Jean de Villiers and Naas Botha.

SuperSport 2 HD

SuperSport 2 primarily shows Cricket. All international cricket involving the South African national cricket team, as well as certain domestic cricket, is shown on this channel. The team who cover South African home games include Mark Nicholas, Mike Haysman, Pommie Mbangwa, Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and guest pundits from the opposition team. This channel also broadcasts other sport such as Motorsports including Formula One and World Rally Championship, motorcycle racing including MotoGP and the Superbike World Championship and Cycling.

SuperSport 3

SuperSport 3 is a 24-hour soccer channel, the first of its kind in Africa. SuperSport has the exclusive rights of telecasting the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and other major football tournaments.

SuperSport 4

SuperSport 4 focuses mainly on domestic soccer matches in South Africa and other African countries through live broadcasts, magazine shows and highlights. They now show Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of their "Supa Diski" shows. The channel also shows many PSL themed news and talk shows under the "PSL TV" brand. These shows air at least one new show nightly. They include Exxtra Time, Back Pages, Mzansi Legends, National First Division Show, PSL News, Thursday Night Live With Robert Marawa, Love PSL and various club magazine shows. All local matches have Zulu and Sesotho commentary. As of August 2017, WWE Raw, WWE NXT and WWE SmackDown air live on early Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, respectively. WWE pay-per-view events are also carried live on Monday mornings.

As this channel is locally oriented, it is included on the Compact bouquet.

SuperSport 5

SuperSport 5 broadcasts different sports such as Golf, Motorsport, Tennis, swimming, athletics etc. It shows live as well as highlights. It also shows football matches when there is an overflow from the Supersport 3 channel.

SuperSport 6

SuperSport 6 is an alternate Cricket channel. When there are two or more cricket matches at the same time, the other match is shown on this channel. It also broadcasts Motorsport, athletics, tennis and a variety of other sports and magazine programmes.

SuperSport 7

SuperSport 7 also broadcasts a variety of sports including boxing, soccer, athletics, Motorsport, Golf and Tennis. It broadcasts matches live as well as shows and highlights. SuperSport 7 also broadcasts La Liga matches live and repeats of previously played matches, highlights, La Liga news and La Liga match analysis.

SuperSport 8

SuperSport 8 primarily broadcasts locally produced highlights packages of the minor sports, including Mountainbiking, Fishing, Trail Running & Motorsport, amongst others. It is used as an overflow channel and broadcasts in Standard Definition.

SuperSport 9

SuperSport 9 broadcasts live episodes and re-runs of WWE content to subscribers on lower subscription packages and also runs additional WWE content such as specials and content from the WWE Network. SuperSport 9 also carries live Serie A football games and selected motorsports and Zambia super league.

SuperSport 10

SuperSport 10 also WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, football games and selected motorsports.

WWE Channel

Compiled by SuperSport, WWE Channel carries live programming such as WWE Raw, WWE NXT and WWE SmackDown and pay-per-views. Much like SuperSport 9, it also carries content from the WWE Network including WWE Beyond the Ring, WWE Ride Along, WWE Chronicle and selected classic pay-per-views as well as re-runs of WWE ECW.

SuperSport Blitz

SuperSport Blitz is the channel that broadcasts news and updates regarding different sports from around the world. It was originally called Supersport Update with news in a longer format to that which it is now. This channel is designed to update viewers with updates of scores and results of matches. When there is more than one PSL match available, additional matches will be shown here.

SuperSport Maximo

SuperSport Maximo is the Portuguese-language channel broadcasting the same events from the other SuperSport channels. It is available mainly in the countries of Lusophone Africa, but also in other African countries including South Africa (only for SuperSport Maximo 1).

Broadcasting rights

Multi-sport events

Cricket

Domestic

International

Football

Domestic

International

Zambia premier league

Rugby

Golf

Tennis

Motorsport

Netball

Cycling

Boxing

Professional Wrestling

MMA

As of 17 January 2019 started broadcasting UFC pay-per-view events live .

It also earned the rights for EFC events starting from March, 2019.

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See also

References
  1. "Ten Sports, Supersport sign multi-year digital content partnership". Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  2. "SuperSport wins South African contracts". Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  3. AsuquoE (8 August 2020). "SuperSport channels are getting a new makeover to give your favourite sport a dedicated home of its own". TalkMedia Africa. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  4. Xhosa rugby commentary not kicked into touch, The Sowetan, 23 July 2014
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