Naspers is looking at bidding for the rights to broadcast English Premier League soccer in Africa after the collapse of previous supplier GTV, the continent's biggest media company said, writes Tisetso Motsoeneng in Business Report.
"Under the circumstances, you'd expect us to look into things to see what's salvageable," said Naspers spokesperson Meloy Horn.
London-based Gateway Broadcast Services, which supplies the GTV service, said on Friday that it had approved a plan to liquidate the company after it failed to secure enough funding, leaving millions of African soccer fans without coverage.
GTV provided 80 percent of Premier League coverage to 22 countries in Africa. Naspers's pay TV unit, MultiChoice, owns rights to the other 20 percent.
GTV's collapse means the potentially lucrative rights revert to the Premier League, which said it hoped to strike a new broadcast deal by this weekend. Spokesperson Tim Vine declined to give details.
Naspers said it did not plan to invest in or buy GTV, and was looking only at the broadcast rights.
Click here to read the full report, posted on Business Report's website.
