South Africans Will Stream The 2024 Summer Olympics For Free

South Africans can rejoice as they will not have to pay a hefty DStv subscription fee or resort to complex workarounds such as VPNs to watch the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

The highly anticipated global sports spectacle will be hosted in Paris, starting on Saturday, 27 July, and continuing until 11 August. This year, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has secured free-to-air broadcasting rights, ensuring widespread accessibility.

While MultiChoice’s DStv has again secured pay-TV broadcasting and streaming rights for the event, the SABC has also obtained the free-to-air rights. However, these rights came at a significant cost—R122 million—contributing to 58% of SABC’s total financial loss in 2022.

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The broadcaster hopes to recoup some of this expenditure through advertising revenue. Most of the Olympic coverage will be available on the SABC Sports channel, but given the extensive range of sports disciplines, some events will also be broadcast on SABC 1, SABC 2, and SABC 3.

All four channels—SABC Sport, SABC 1, SABC 2, and SABC 3—will be available on free-to-air digital terrestrial broadcasting and the Openview satellite TV service.

Viewers do not have to worry about platform restrictions, as was the case with other major sports events like the Rugby World Cup and Cricket World Cup. The SABC has directly procured the broadcasting rights from the International Olympic Committee, bypassing the need for sublicensing from DStv.

In addition to traditional TV broadcasts, the Olympics will also be streamable through the SABC’s free video streaming service.

This service is accessible via the web, Android and iOS apps, and various smart TV operating systems. However, it remains uncertain whether the SABC will provide live coverage for every gold medal contest.