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Business of TV Sport
Sportel Monaco 2011

Supersport declares African boom over as HiTV flounders

Imtiaz Patel, chief executive of pan-African sports broadcaster Supersport, has said the days of huge rights-fee increases in Africa are over, in the wake of his company taking over English Premier League rights in Nigeria from HiTV.
Pay-television broadcaster HiTV had to give the rights up after failing to secure a bank guarantee to fully cover its fee, despite having paid $40 million (€30 million) upfront.

“There has to be a realignment of expectation in Africa,” Patel said. “The days of 1000-per-cent increases are over. That kind of growth is just not sustainable. Rights-holders have got to start valuing a combination of reasonable increases and surety of delivery and start seeing deals as a partnership.”

For the full story, see the latest issue of TV Sports Markets.