Kenyan soccer lovers will from this weekend enjoy watching English Premier League soccer matches free of charge. This is after Kenya Television Network (KTN) announced it had secured a deal to air the much-watched games from this Saturday.
“The English Premier League is now on KTN! We will be showing live matches every weekend starting 6th February,” the station screamed on Twitter. Mediamax Network-owned K24 is the only local station that has been airing European League games after clinching a deal to screen Serie A matches though they are not a major hit with Kenyan fans.
South African satellite media giant, Multi Choice Africa holds exclusive rights to air English Premier League soccer matches in the country. The games are aired only by DSTV on SuperSport and select games on sister digital terrestrial television service, Gotv.
It is not immediately clear the nature of the deal KTN has signed and whether they will air all the games or a select view, a concern that many Kenyans pointed out following the station’s announcement. If it airs all games, it will be a major win for Kenyan TV viewers who had been denied the luxury by high prices charged by DStv for its premium content. It will also certainly hit DStv subscriptions as a huge chunk of its customers are lured by the sports channels on its SuperSport package.
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However, the Communications Authority of Kenya had previously ordered DStv to end the monopoly to allow Star Times, Zuku and other pay TV channels to air the English games. Star Times has, however, concentrated on the Germany League.
Multichoice has been reluctant to share premium content such as SuperSport on the basis it would harm its revenues and their appeal to advertisers. “Exclusivity is the principle on which pay-Tv works,” said Mr Nolo Letele, the executive chairman of MultiChoice Africa said in 2012 when rivals such as Mwananchi Group, which operates Zuku, started piling pressure on the regulator to end its monopoly.
MultiChoice then suggested that it may be willing to re-sell certain content on the condition that buyers air the content with a delay in order to enable the South African operator to retain priority.
In Nigeria, the battle for premium content pitted DStv against local pay-TV operator HiTV in 2010, with the former wresting the rights to air lucrative English Premier League matches from the Nigerian company.
