The agreement, announced on Friday, will be worth US$277.5 million to the PSL with the deal also including internet and mobile rights. The pay-TV company paid $200 million for the last set of rights, which are set to expire at the end of the 2011-12 season in May. SuperSport will sub-licence 140 games per season to free-to-air television, with 40 matches broadcast across both mediums.

"The winning tender offered a composite package that includes internet and mobile rights," said PSL chairman Irvin Khoza. "We need to be clear that it wasn't just the money that influenced us but (we) looked at the growth and enhancement of our product on our current deal, where we moved from being 30th ranked league in the world to the top 10."

Imtiaz Patel, group CEO of SuperSport's parent company Multichoice, added: “It's a vote of confidence on the PSL and a clear sign of the responsive relationship that we have with each other. I'll also say that it was Dr Khoza and his very clever board who managed to extract the maximum deal possible from their partners.”