NTA to air all AFCON matches live

The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) has announced that it will broadcast all 52 games of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) live. 

In a post on X on Wednesday, the federal government-owned television station said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with AfroSports TV, a cross-continental Free-To-Air (FTA) sports channel.

“NTA signs a memorandum of understanding with Afro Sports TV for transmission of 52 games of African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire,” the post read.

The announcement by NTA follows a few weeks of confusion after MultiChoice, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, disclosed that it had failed to acquire the broadcasting rights for the AFCON billed to hold Ivory Coast.

The broadcast powerhouse said its SuperSport channel would not show the competition billed to commence on January 13.

Shortly, it was revealed that Multichoice was beaten to the broadcasting rights by New World TV, a Togolese audio-visual group.

New World TV had won the rights to broadcast all CAF’s 13 competitions to the sub-Saharan African audience for two years.

The deal will hold from 2023 to 2025, encompassing the forthcoming AFCON and the tournament’s next edition.

There were concerns about the cross-continental reach of New World TV, which only has footholds in majorly French-speaking African countries.

However, StarTimes announced it had struck a sublicensing deal with New World and would air the competition on its sports channels.

The 34th edition of the AFCON will be held in Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 11.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are in Group A alongside Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

Nigeria will take on Equatorial Guinea in their opening game on January 14 before facing Ivory Coast four days later and rounding off the group stage with the Guinea-Bissau tie.

The Eagles recently returned from a one-week training camp in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they thrashed Al Gharaib, a local club, 12-0 before losing 2-0 to Guinea a day later.

The team will proceed to Ivory Coast on Wednesday.