The South African Rugby (SA Rugby) governing body has extended its major domestic rights deal with pay-TV heavyweight SuperSport.
The network, now owned by the Canal Plus group, will continue as the home broadcaster of top-tier club rugby in South Africa – in a deal that spans all of sub-Saharan Africa, via a multi-season renewal.
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This portfolio of properties includes the Currie Cup and Varsity Cup competitions, as well as junior age-group fixtures and games featuring the national women's team.
The deal is Canal Plus' first in Africa with a major local sports governing body such as SA Rugby since it took a majority stake in SuperSport late last year, and comes with the men's Springboks national team being the current world champions.
Overall, the partnership between SuperSport and SA Rugby has now run for over 30 years.
The eight-team premier division of the Currie Cup, the top men's club rugby union competition in South Africa, will run between July 18 and September 12 this year.
Canal Plus finalized its acquisition of SuperSport parent MultiChoice in 2025 and has since added to the brand’s rights portfolio with competitions such as basketball’s NBA and the recent Africa Cup of Nations soccer competition.
In February, meanwhile, SuperSport renewed its rights to the LIV Golf League for the 2026 edition of the property.
The service has broadcast LIV Golf action since the tour’s launch in 2022, with the new agreement having come ahead of the tour's first event in South Africa, which took place from March 19 to 22 in Johannesburg.
In terms of other rugby rights, meanwhile, SuperSport holds a swathe of rights covering most of the globe's top-tier competitions, and covered the 2023 men's Rugby World Cup in full (although all games featuring eventual winners South Africa were sub-licensed out to the SABC national broadcaster).
