YouTube clarifies its stance on SuperSport and live sport on the platform

On Tuesday, Memeburn received a press release from Google stating that YouTube will be live streaming sport content on its platform, thanks to a deal with NBA Africa and SuperSport. However, on Thursday evening, the company issued clarification on its stance regarding live sport and its future on the platform.

“YouTube would like to clarify earlier statements regarding its sports content offering, which were inaccurately portrayed in the press,” began the emailed statement to Memeburn.

“YouTube works closely with broadcasters and rights holders in order to distribute their sporting events on the YouTube platform. In Sub-Saharan Africa, YouTube works with partners including SuperSport, which owns the exclusive regional broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FIFA Women’s World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, among other franchises.”

It added that SuperSport, on its YouTube channel, “publishes select video-on-demand highlights packages where permitted — which means fans across Africa can watch edited highlights of selected games after they have first aired live on SuperSport”.

“All content curated and published on YouTube is fully in SuperSport’s editorial control and in accordance with their broadcast and transmission rights agreements with rights holders,” the statement continued.

However, there is “no current agreement for live distribution of global or local sports franchises on YouTube” between the company and SuperSport, Google confirmed.

“YouTube does not own or license any of the underlying broadcast rights, and SuperSport publishes clips, highlights and ancillary sport content to YouTube at its complete discretion,” it added.

Essentially, YouTube or SuperSport has no plans to live stream sporting content on the platform, as the initial release stated.

“We know audiences are excited about sports content on YouTube and we are pleased to help fans discover more of the sports they love, in collaboration with our global and local partners,” added Dayo Olopade, YouTube content partnerships lead.

“We apologise for any confusion caused.”

Feature image: Memeburn