The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season will kick off on March 31, with a blockbuster clash between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Gujarat Titans (GT). However, fans of the sport at the cash-rich league who are living in South Africa will be disappointed when they find out that the tournament will not be broadcast in the African nation for the first time since 2008!
South Africans will not be able to view the league after pay-television broadcaster SuperSport confirmed that they had not secured the rights to the league. Previously, these belonged to the South African-based group of television channels, but they lost the Sub-Saharan African rights to Viacom18 June.
Viacom18 also won the rights to Australia, New Zealand and England. They have made deals with broadcasters in those countries to share the feed, but SuperSport has not signed such a deal. "SuperSport previously held broadcast rights to the Indian Premier League," a SuperSport spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo.
"Commercial discussions with the rights holder for the next cycle of rights have unfortunately been unsuccessful and SuperSport will therefore not broadcast the IPL as of this year's edition."
The 16th edition of the IPL will see 15 South Africans participate across nine franchises, with only the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) without a South African player.
Some of South Africa's best players play important roles for IPL teams. They are Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen, who play for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals' Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, Mumbai Indians' Tristan Stubbs and Dewald Brevis, Lucknow Super Giants' Quinton de Kock, and Punjab Kings' Kagiso Rabada.
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa is not too pleased with this and is disappointed for the country's fans, especially after the inaugural SA20, which had all six teams owned by IPL sides but has no involvement with rights deals.
SuperSport is the biggest sports broadcaster in Africa. They broadcast all the major competitions including South African home and abroad tours, the home series' of England, Australia, New Zealand, India, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as several franchise leagues. More recently, they broadcast the Women's Premier League (WPL) in full.
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