The English Premier League, one of the most popular club
soccer competitions in the world, has struck a
broadcasting rights agreement with Econet Media, owned
by Zimbabwean telecoms tycoon Strive Masiyiwa. The new
deal will make games available on a free-to-air basis for
fans across sub-Saharan Africa.

The three-year agreement will start during the 2016-17
season and run through to 2019. Econet’s Kwesé Sports
will air a live match every Saturday afternoon for
subscription-free views in 50 African countries. The rights
also gives the channel access to preview shows and post-
match highlights programming.

“Premier League clubs enjoy passionate support across
sub-Saharan Africa and these rights are important to
ensuring that as many fans as possible can follow and
enjoy our competition,” Richard Scudamore, the executive
chairman of the Premier League, said in a statement.
Africa represents one of the fastest growing fan-bases for
the English-based club competition, helped by the success
of players from the continent, such as Leicester City’s
Algerian player, Riyad Mahrez, and Manchester City’s
Ivorian midfielder, Yaya Toure. This move will definitely
help to grow this audience, which was at 260 million last
season.

Currently, South Africa’s pay-TV provider, Multichoice,
owns the broadcasting rights for the league in Africa. It
paid £296 ($428) million for the rights to broadcast the
league for the 2016-19 seasons. And their offering through
Supersport, the platform that shows the matches, costs a
minimum subscription fee of $40 a month for a limited
number of games every week, and can go up to as much
as $100 for full access.

But the arrival of Kwesé TV, which launched only last
December could start to challenge the near monopoly that
Multichoice has enjoyed in this space. And competing for
the football audience across the continent is one way of
trying to eat into the Naspers-owned company’s market
share.

“We want to make this league available to fans across sub-
Saharan Africa,” Joseph Hundah, the CEO of Econet
media, said. “We hope to widen access to this property.”

source: Notey

http://howafrica.com/african-soccer-fans-get-cheaper-way-watch-english-premier-league/?utm_source=&utm_medium=facebook

Is this y Dstv reduced their high fee

Very good. A welcome development.