FA Notches Rights to Matches

LONDON, November 16: The
FA has confirmed that the pan-African satellite broadcaster GTV and the South
Africa-based TV operator SuperSport have secured the exclusive broadcast rights
to FA Cup and England matches within sub-Saharan Africa from 2008 to 2012.

GTV’s rights extend to 44
countries across Africa while SuperSport has retained the rights for South
Africa while also acquiring the rights to broadcast the games within Nigeria.

Stuart Turner, The FA’s
head of broadcast, said: “Africa was a highly competitive territory for us and
we’re delighted to have contracted two such prominent and well-respected
partners. Our new partner in Africa, GTV, has shown a real commitment to
offering competitively priced football into African homes. In SuperSport, we
have a current partner who we have worked with for a number of years and who
have always displayed the utmost support.”

Additionally, The FA has
also reached an exclusive agreement with Brazil’s Traffic Sports Marketing for
21 territories in Latin America. FA broadcast manager James Elliott said:
"We have appointed Traffic because we believe they showed the necessary
appetite and knowledge to really take our product on. It’s an underdeveloped
market for English football and Traffic will offer us the strength in depth we
need."

—By Irene Lew