SuperSport has paid £296 million for the 2016-19 Barclays Premier League broadcast rights in sub-Saharan Africa, The Mail Online reported.

This would have cost MultiChoice around R6 billion in August 2015 when the deal was signed.

If payment were delayed until later in 2015, after President Jacob Zuma’s decision that lead to the Nene/Van Rooyen debacle, it would have cost closer to R7 billion.

Asked where on the scale between R6 billion-R7 billion the deal fell, SuperSport only said it was aware of the report.

“Others are free to speculate, but SuperSport does not disclose the nature or costs of broadcast,” it said.

Naspers recently reported that MultiChoice’s programming and production costs for the six month period between April and September 2015 was R5.8 billion.

This was over 25%, or R1.1 billion, higher than the same period in 2014.

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