Screening Games in Your Establishment

SCREENING SPORT IN YOUR ESTABLISHMENT

Sporting events and the hospitality industry have worked side-by-side forever. When cities are chosen to host big tournaments, hospitality is at the forefront of that decision. South Africans are passionate about their teams, and they always come out to bat for the national teams. Ask any South African sports fan about their favourite moments, and they are bound to not only have a good story but the stars of that story are likely to be the venue and people they were with while they were watching the big event. Though a necessary step in taking your business to the next level, diversifying and offering game screenings at your tavern will require some consideration.

Pros of screening sport

• Setting up a game viewing at your establishment will give people even more reason to visit; • More people watching sport in your bar potentially means more sales in food and drinks; and • Sports viewing is a communal ritual for most, so they will opt to watch it with others

Cons of screening sport

• You will have to invest in equipment and subscriptions; • You will have to increase security and (or) insure the new equipment; and • Sports lovers can get rowdy All in all, it is a worthwhile investment that will diversify your establishment and make it stand out. But before you rush out and buy your plasma big screen TV and sound on the business account, there are things you need to note. Nationally we have a number of Free to air (FTA) channels like SABC and eTV as well as community channels like Soweto TV. These are free to the public and are made available without any subscription. However, most sports action is on DStv. SuperSport and DStv channels, currently hold the rights to a number of sporting events. Though FTA channels like the SABC broadcast some football matches as per the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), the body that regulates broadcasting and communications in this country, SuperSport currently hold exclusive rights to Premier League, Champions League and CAF games. DStv is not a public broadcaster, which means that the public broadcast of bouquets meant for private (household) consumption is illegal. It’s a breach of copyright. To this end, DStv has commercial bouquets that come in multi-levels.

Tavern Package

Subscribers to the tavern package have access to SuperSport 3, which broadcasts most international football league matches including Premier League and Uefa Champions League matches. Subscribers also have access to SuperSport 4, which broadcasts Premier Soccer League and African football matches, news and magazine programmes. SuperSport MaXimo is a Portuguese channel that broadcasts content from other SuperSport channels. The bouquet also includes Channel O, a music channel. Selected SuperSport HD channels are available at an additional cost. SuperSport HD 1 and 2 are not available as additional channels in the Tavern Package.

Cost: R183 – per month, per TV set. Sports Package

The sports package is mostly suitable for establishments that have patrons with diversified sport interests. With the subscription you get all the SuperSport channels excluding all the SuperSport HD channels, which are available at an additional cost. It’s is cost-effective for big sports bars where there is likely going to be one than one TV playing at a time.

Cost: R546 – per month, per TV or per third TV in an open area.

You may be not interested in your business becoming a fully-fledged sports bar, but remember, the demand is ever-present, particularly when it’s the season for national sporting events and everyone is feeling patriotic in their green and gold. Football derbies are another sure thing: from Soweto to Manchester, derbies always draw large crowds. When the stadium is out of the question the local watering hole is a better option than watching the game at home alone.