Praise God ooooh!

Nigeria’s most lucrative television rights, the English Premier League, EPL, changed hands Tuesday in a $100 million high wire business deal that saw up and coming Nigerian broadcaster, HiTv lose out to DSTv, the multi-channel digital satellite television company. The new deal was signed in London. BusinessDay learnt that HiTv which emerged as the highest bidder paid only $40 million of its bid price of $115 million and did not provide guarantee of the balance on the due date.

It is understood that directors of HiTv were working round the clock negotiating funding with bankers when the deadline for payment expired. It was at this point that owners of the EPL right called up DSTv to make good its bid. DSTv promptly wrote a cheque for $100 million and the deal was signed. Analysts were quick to point to the pervading banking liquidity issues as HiTv’s main obstacle rather than the bankability of the EPL project. Some analysts warned that more companies are gradually dropping off the radar because of the persisting liquidity squeeze in the system.

“This confirms the fact that banks are not really lending and firms can’t find money in the capital market”, says one analyst who was vexed that HiTv could lose its $40 million deposit as provided for in the bid terms. A statement jointly signed by DSTv and EPL yesterday said the arrangement to host the Premiership includes 380 Barclays Premier League matches, plus the Premier League’s 24-hour Content Service in High Definition. This seven day-a-week service launches on August 13 and will be broadcast across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore was quoted as saying that the organisation is pleased to extend its partnership with SuperSport into Nigeria and are confident that it will continue to deliver a premium product that will showcase the Barclays Premier League to many fans in the territory. The Premier League has traditionally enjoyed outstanding viewership ratings on SuperSport and this commercial arrangement is expected to amplify the league’s popularity.

The Barclays Premier League is the biggest continuous annual sporting event in the world, followed by more than 2.5 billion fans and broadcast to more than 500 million homes. “Nigeria will be one of the very first countries to receive the 24-hour Content Service,” said Imtiaz Patel, CE of SuperSport. “We are delighted to be leading the way with our partners at the Premier League and associates in Nigeria.”

According to the statement, chairman of MultiChoice Nigeria, Adewunmi Ogunsanya, said: “We are happy to welcome back the English Premier League to the DStv platform in Nigeria to stand alongside the other exciting international soccer coverage we already provide to our subscribers here. “However, our focus remains firmly on showcasing homegrown talent from the Nigerian Premier League and we will continue our investments in this regard.

“As a Nigerian business which is committed to providing our growing subscriber community across Nigeria with the world’s best channels and programming, we are pleased that SuperSport were able to take up the opportunity when it presented itself to ensure that fans of this league will not miss any action from it.”

Currently, DSTv and HiTv have subscribers base of 400,000 and over 200,000 respectively in Nigeria.


Source: http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13024:dstv-regains-lucrative-english-premiership-rights-in-100m-deal&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

Ope oo

Yes oh

Come to think of it HiTv is a naija company and they make thier money from subscription from customers, customers that only watch EPL. With this development, that means lots of our naija people might loose their jobs, na wah ooh!

unclebros:

Come to think of it HiTv is a naija company and they make thier money from subscription from customers, customers that only watch EPL. With this development, that means lots of our naija people might loose their jobs, na wah ooh!

then why didn't they up their game when they had the opportunity? during off season Hitv is nothing to write home about. imagine paying 6k for 20 channels or so if you can pay 9k5 for over 70 channels. thats daylight robbery!