Broadsmart is a Johannesburg-based media solutions and services business working with broadcasters across Africa. SportsCast Africa – a 24×7 linear sports channel for sub-Saharan audiences distributed to FAST platforms and connected TV apps.

Since early 2026, Broadsmart has utilized the Amagi platform to manage SportsCast Africa. The team quickly accelerated its capabilities, debuting live sports content within weeks of launch. This ranged from original in-studio 'watch-along' programming to broadcasting a major football cup final via a direct rights-holder feed.

The challenge

SportsCast Africa launched as a 24/7 linear channel, relying on pre-scheduled, recorded content. While this model is scalable, it cannot handle live matches, and live sports are essential for driving audience engagement and advertiser demand that a sports channel requires.

Traditional methods for broadcasting live events are prohibitively expensive within the FAST model. To solve this, Broadsmart identified five key requirements:

• Seamless channel integration: Matches must integrate directly into the existing channel playlist, ensuring a consistent Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) experience across all platforms.

• Cost-efficient contribution: Avoid the heavy costs and operational burden of provisioning permanent, dedicated circuits for occasional live events.

• Dynamic duration handling: Absorb overruns and early finishes automatically to prevent on-air gaps.

• Seamless commercial integration: Include commercial breaks within the production running order, supported by SCTE-35 signalling and the flexibility to reschedule content.

• Operational autonomy: Enable internal scheduling and production teams to manage live events independently, eliminating reliance on external requests.

The programming strategy

Broadsmart designed SportsCast Africa as a multi-sport news and highlights channel for the sub-Saharan African market, prioritizing football to align with the continent’s dominant passion. The channel employs an engagement-led programming strategy; rather than acquiring expensive broadcast rights for every major fixture, Broadsmart hosts real-time “watch-along” events. These in-house productions feature expert analysts and fans discussing matches as they unfold, competing for viewers through insightful commentary and community engagement rather than exclusive broadcast rights.

The format works because of how viewers consume it. Viewers watch the match on the big screen and the watch-along on a second screen. A carousel of daily football and general news programming surrounds this, and the evening schedule is anchored by original weekly shows. Preview and review viewership is maximized around major fixtures, establishing topicality as the channel’s core commercial asset; this is delivered through the live format.

Audience interaction today is asynchronous: questions arrive through social channels, and presenters weave them into the live conversation. Deeper integration, allowing viewers to contribute directly during a broadcast, is the next step.

The solution

Broadsmart was already running SportsCast Africa on Amagi, so adding live simply meant extending the existing channel rather than building a second one.

• Live events with Amagi: Live events are scheduled as programs in the existing playlist and published to platforms with their own metadata and artwork, so the match appears in listings ahead of air.

• Composition at air time: Amagi composes the live segment: break structures with ad slates and SCTE-35 signalling, static channel identity, and rescue content held in reserve.

• On-air duration control: A segment can be extended when a match runs long or ends early, with rescue content filling the remaining scheduled duration.

How it works

• Two contribution paths, one workflow: For the annual DFB-Pokal (German Cup) final, Broadsmart ingested a rights-holder feed. For watch-along programming, the team produced and transmitted live signals from their own multi-camera studio in Johannesburg. Both streams were normalized as Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) feeds upon arrival at the Amagi platform, enabling a unified, identical processing workflow.

• The live event as a scheduled program: The event is dropped into the playlist and published, typically the day before, so platforms receive the EPG in advance.

• Breaks from the running order: Break content is pre-scheduled against Broadsmart’s production running order, with SCTE-35 markers passed downstream for platform monetization.

• Overruns handled on air: The team dynamically managed live overruns by adjusting the schedule in real-time, ensuring seamless content continuity across every live event without any broadcast gaps.

• Early finishes closed cleanly: When a match ends ahead of schedule, the remaining duration is filled from a rescue pool rather than left as a programming hole, and the channel rejoins its schedule.

The impact

In an eight-week window, SportsCast Africa was able to:

• Deliver 18 live events totalling more than 45 hours of live sport inside the existing channel, with EPG delivered to platforms ahead of air and break signalling intact 

•  Take the DFB Pokal final to air as a full live game on a rights-holder feed, with no content holes on air 

•  Produce and schedule live watch-alongs through a major international football tournament, including the final, from its own studio 

•  Add live without a dedicated contribution circuit, a live playout gallery, or a separate live channel 

• Build a repeatable live workflow that Broadsmart now applies for other broadcasters in the region 

Live sport is now a scheduling decision for SportsCast Africa rather than a project. Next on the schedule: domestic league coverage, starting with South Africa’s PSL and other continental leagues, and over time additional sports — rugby, athletics and multi-sport events.

Beyond one channel

SportsCast Africa is just one of many channels under Broadsmart’s management. Since partnering with Amagi in early 2026 and quickly scaling its live capabilities, the team has transformed from operational testing into a repeatable regional playbook. Broadsmart now delivers a comprehensive suite of services for African broadcasters, from channel launch and multi-platform distribution to sophisticated live operations—all unified under a single, streamlined infrastructure.

Want to add live to your channel? Talk to us about live events on Amagi.