The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has moved to put an end to the catastrophic impasse in its television rights statuses that have seen major competitions blacked out.
In November 2019 Caf cancelled their $1bn TV coverage contract with French broadcast company Lagardère for the Caf Champions League, Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and finals tournaments, and junior tournaments such as the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
This followed separate court judgments that the deal had not undergone the tender process.
The Champions League and Confederation Cup club competitions have not been televised across the continent for close to two years while the impasse has continued.
Mamelodi Sundowns owner Patrice Motspe, elected as Caf president in March, said resolving the broadcast impasse would be among his first objectives.
Caf said on Friday: “Caf has opened an invitation to tender (ITT) for the host broadcast and TV services across selected events in 2022 and 2023, including its flagship event, the TotalEnergies Caf African Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.”
Caf said “interested parties may place bids on all the services included, or just specific services areas of expertise”.
“The tender process will allow CAF to select the companies that are best placed to achieve Caf’s objectives of providing world-class coverage of the tournament and offering fans in Africa and internationally a high-quality viewing experience.”
Caf said events included in the tender are the:
- Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 (final tournament)
- Caf African Nations Championship (Chan) 2022 (final tournament)
- Africa Women Cup of Nations 2022 (final tournament)
- Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations 2022 (final tournament)
- Africa U-17 Cup of Nations 2023
- Africa U-20 Cup of Nations 2023
- Caf Champions League 2021-22
- Caf Champions League 2022-23
- Caf Confederation Cup 2021-22
- Caf Confederation Cup 2022-23
- Caf Super Cup 2022
- Caf Super Cup 2023
- Caf Women’s Champions League 2022 (final tournament)
- Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifying competition.
The continental ruling body said companies wishing to participate in the tender processes can request the ITT by email at TVServices@cafonline.com.
Submissions to Caf must be received by 12pm Egyptian Standard Time on November 15 2021,” Caf said.
The cancellation of the Lagardère contract led to SA pay channel SuperSport blacking out its coverage of all Caf games, including the U-23 Afcon and 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers, encompassing Bafana Bafana’s away matches.
Source: Timeslive.co.za
