What a lot of people don't understand is that the EPL demanded a Bank Bond from a First Class European Bank, as they did for every country. A Nigerian Bank Bond was not in the deal.

Hitv were in London not long ago looking for investors and I know at least one Arab Investment company that they approached and gave them short change. Why did they need to go outside Nigeria with all the money Nigeria has, I believe the Nigerian banks had had enough.

In Nigeria any company registered must be a Nigerian, as a Nigerian must hold 51% of any company, so DSTV Nigeria must be Nigerian owned, look at the Nigerians they employ, surely that counts for something.
Give them a break.

Can anyone throw any light on the subject:

SuperSport acquires EPL rights for Nigeria
22/07/2010, 09:18

DStv’s SuperSport is delighted to confirm that it has acquired the Nigerian rights to the Barclays Premier League for the next three seasons 2010/11 to 2012/13.

The arrangement 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.

Hi Ufriend
can you explain this from the Vanguard:

NTA grabs Orange/CAF Nations Cup Broadcast Rights
Sports Jan 7, 2010

By Sylva Eleanya
Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, is set to broadcast live 28 matches of the Orange/CAF Nations Cup tagged Angola 2010 to 80 million Nigerians as the tournament runs January 10 -31.

NTA zonal director, Yusuf Jibo, stated in a press conference in Lagos that the NTA in partnership with African Sports Consulting, AFNEX and Hensen Trust Group, has been granted the biggest sports property in the continent from now till 2014. He said the agreement had earlier been signed in Paris, France, which covers both the television and radio broadcast right for sub-sahara Africa, they also have the rights for Orange CAF Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup, CAF Super Cup and others.

The Master
Congratulations to Hitv, $150 million over three years, not cheap (last time $28 million); plus 107 million Euros for the Champions league (about $155 million over two years).

If my maths are correct minimum outgoing for these two alone per year is over $125 million (approximately 22.875 Billion Naira), now with say 600,000 subscribers which is believed to be the saturation of football viewers in Nigeria. This would mean that 3177 Naira on each subscriber per month would go towards paying only for the football.

From my contacts Hitv is paying fees to other channels on a max of 150,000 per month, if that is the case 12,708 Naira per month per Subscriber will be going to pay for the football alone.

What I am saying is what chance do subscribers stand on getting a reduction on their fees? - none. In fact I guarantee now they have the monopoly on the EPL watch the football packages go up, they must. The 12K you say that the subscribers would be paying for DSTV will come to Hitv, its simple maths.

Congratulations to Hitv, $150 million over three years, not cheap (last time $28 million); plus 107 million Euros for the Champions league (about $155 million over two years).

If my maths are correct minimum outgoing for these two alone per year is over $125 million (approximately 22.875 Billion Naira), now with say 600,000 subscribers which is believed to be the saturation of football viewers in Nigeria. This would mean that 3177 Naira on each subscriber per month would go towards paying only for the football.

From my contacts Hitv is paying fees to other channels on a max of 150,000 per month, if that is the case 12,708 Naira will be going to pay for the football alone.

What I am saying is what chance do subscribers stand on getting a reduction on their fees? - none. In fact I guarantee now they have the monopoly on the EPL watch the football packages go up, they must.

Anybody looked at "infinity" new DTH in Nigeria, this is being set up with someone who listens to this blog.
He is bringing in specialists to set up his DTH platform.
Looks very professional. http://www.infinitytv.info/
Be afraid Hitv, be very afraid

Hi niyi09

I found this rather amusing, HiTV has fought for years to get Nigeria identified as a separate identity with the EPL and of course managed to get the EPL through this method.
Now with the cost of the EPL next contract going to be over $200 million for Nigeria (Champions league cost the over 100 million Euros, so you can guarantee that the EPL will be double), they form a consortium for all of Africa. I presume this also will cover Nigeria; the problem is their partners are not "heavy weights" in the business and the rest of Africa will also cost a fortune. The EPL are not crazy they see the income they can make in Nigeria alone and then the amount outside, so I doubt if they will change very much.
I feel as though HiTV are worried about the next round as their subscriber base does not support what they are paying for football, just what happened at GTV. It will be interesting to watch when the tender for the EPL comes out towards the end of the year!

@Raahym

What HITV did at the beginning was great, you sneaked in while Multichoice was sleeping and took the EPL. It was the making of HITV, all I am saying is that be very careful at the next round they will be bearing their big guns on you as you are a threat to them. Money is no object to them and as I said HITV must have deep pockets this time and I can guarantee that $200 million for the next EPL is not an exaggeration. With GTV out of the way you are their only threat.

It is good to see that you are building a platform of strength but remember there is a core of maybe 150,000 subs that are football fanatics but there are many more who are not and they need to be catered for. I can see that HITV are working on that and they have another 18 months to set it in concrete, I wish them luck but always remember that the customer is King, give them what they want not what you think they want.

@Satman
I am my own boss, I do not work for anyone but I am fully aware what is happening in the DTH market place in Africa. I have a few good contacts that keep me up to date what is happening in the industry and I am just trying to pass on what I think is useful information that I have obtained. No axe to grind, just like to see HITV serve Nigeria and grow stronger with good service and quality programmes.

@Raahym

I cannot believe your words, when you say "Let us not have foreigners dictate the road to us". What is the EPL, it is controlling the amount of subscribers in HiTV, without the EPL HiTV would not exist?

GTV failed because of one thing "Football", they could not amortise their outgoings against their incomings. With 150,000 subs they could not support the market at what they charged, they went down because Julian Mcintyre would not listen to his investors and wanted to spend another $200 million on football and they would not give it to him so he pulled out.

If I owned HiTV I woul be very worried about the EPL tender this October. My inside information is that Multichoice has $200 million+ kitty for the EPL for Africa, now they don't need to offer any more than $10 million for the rest of Africa as they have no competition. They can put all the funds into buying the rights for Nigeria, remember they make $100 million a year from Nigeria at a minimal cost, so $200 million is worth the investment when they can defuse this payment over the whole of Africa.

Hi Satman

Nigerians desrve a much better quality service than what they get at the moment. Nothing will be announced until everything is in place to launch, we cannot stand how things are promised and nothing happens. Just keep an eye on GTV in next week or so.

Hi Ecowas4All

I find The NAIRALAND FTA Family very interesting, you guys seem to spend a fortune to get FTA although it comes and goes.
What would the house like FTA, remember that nothing is for nothing in this life. Would you be interested in a watching 30 second advert before a blockbuster film if to view the film was free and uninterrupted without other adverts? This is posssible with todays technology what we need to know (apart from football) what othe programmes would be acceptable using the same method.

Is there an association of satellite installers in Nigeria? I need to discuss with somebody about a project that we are about to embark on a DTH that will be throughout Nigeria and we will need installers from all over the country beginning next year.
Thanks

Entitan 2002
Many thanks for the advice, will do

This might not be the correct link to give me the information I need but I do see a lot of people with good satellite experience contributing to this link.
Is there an association of satellite installers in Nigeria? I need to discuss with somebody about a project that we are about to embark on that wil be throughout Nigeria and we will need installers from all over the country.
Thanks

Have you heard that the French company Canal are in talks to buy GTV?
How will this affect HiTV now that a major player is coming into English speaking Africa?
They know the market as they have been running in the French territorries for years.

Hi urfriend
Your comments:
hi all,if you say eutelsat is not at fault,then who owns and controls the satellite in space?.hitv only uplinks,eutelsat's job is to check and make sure that it does surpass it's capacity
This shows that you don't understand what is Hitv's responsibility and what is Eutelsats, they provide the space and it is Hitv that crams in the channels not Eutelsat.

On MPEG2 you can put 16 maybe 18 channels, you put sport on the transponder it will take it down to 12 or 14 because sport uses much more bandwidth that films, etc. That is why the signal breaks up, also the STB has a part to play. It would be interesting to know if Strong had the same problems seeing the football with their own box.

If you were on MPEG4 like DAAR you would not have this problem as they will be able to have up to 26 channels on MPEG4.

I get very frustrated reading this thread, Hitv should stand up and be counted, it is never their fault.
Last weekend they blamed Eutelsat for the signal, this problem is not from Eutelsat it is caused by a transponder being overloaded and that problem is caused by the football eating up a lot of bandwith and Hitv trying to squeeze too much on one transponder.

soloqy, you hit the nail on the head!

Hi soloqy

Just sitting back and waiting to see what DAAR are up too, I cannot find any information on them. As you said they should be running test transmissions this month FTA but I can't find anyone that has seen anything. I have heard that people are falling over new equipment in their offices, maybe they haven't installed it all yet.

From the HiTV Web Page about the Champions League:

With the acquisition of this right, Nigeria football lovers and freaks will be treated to a series of scintillating live matches on its dedicated sports channels-Hi Sports and Hi Soccer.

So HiTV subscribers are either football lovers or freaks, nice wording HiTV!!!!

And where is DAAR this was to be the first day of testing and we still don't know about their 40 channels! Where is their marketing?

Urfriend

Check this out:

Champions League (100 million Euros) i.e. $160 million
EPL $28 Million
La Liga, Series A (9 million Euros) $14 million

Over $200 million only on Football!

This information is from DTH Platforms that were in the tenders for the above; these are not as you say "false amounts".

Hi Raahym

A long time no hear, you mention that "HITV has quite a lot in its kitty" can you answer the question that urfriend keeps evading, how is HiTV going to amortise $200 million spent on football in three years? That's 185,000 subscribers per month just to pay outgoing football rights, no profit.

You claim you are fighting against exclusivity for Nigeria, surely HiTV now has that with the Champions League?

A platform such as HiTV should never had started only on the EPL, they should have given a broad programme spectrum at launch, such as DAAR has promised (we will see in the next week what they are offering Nigeria). As I have said before how can HiTV spend $200 million only on football for three years, when 20% of those funds would have built a beautiful DTH platform covering the needs of all Nigerians. There is on average 6.1 people in a Nigerian household, how many of these are football fans for a few hours per week?

HiTV has been on average three times the nearest competitor in their tender prices, good research could have saved them an enormous amount of money. Now football is too expensive for other operators and people like DAAR will get the clients that HiTV have forgotten, remember football is a driver but not the only one and at least DAAR have taken this on board.

I question the amount of new subscribers per day that urfriend claims but I think that HiTV will have to increase their prices in the near future otherwise they will be bankrupt in paying these enormous fees, fans will pay because it is the only option they have available to watch 80% of their teams games.

Hi delvinmaya

I am based in Europe but often in Nigeria and know the choice we have in Europe and there is no reason why Nigeria should not have the same choice.
Mark my words there will be big changes next year once Eutelsat position their new satellite over Nigeria and it will be to the good of Nigerians.

Hi delvinmaya
I have nothing to do with Daar just keep my head to the ground for info. I would like to know what sat they are going to use as Eutelsat is full until summer next year when w7 comes on line.
Then you will see some major players coming into the Nigerian Market and Nigeria will have all round good content. Hitv offer the best football coverage, no denying that, but there is more to life than football.
All I was wanting to know when will they get a return on their investment after spending all this money, for me the figures don't add up.
The new tender for the EPL comes out next September and they will have to go deep into their pockets again, without a return on their first investment.

Hi Urfriend

I hear congratulations are in order for Hitv they won the Champions League for Nigeria, It cost them over 100 million Euros, $156 million US Dollars for three years. That is over $50 million per year $4m+ per month, every month. So 133,000 subscribers a month at $30 US Dollars just to pay (no profit) for the Champions League, on top of that the cost of EPL, La Liga and Italian Series A. They must have very understanding shareholders and banks.

There are only so many people that want to watch the football and Hitv seem to have lost sight of the mothers and children and the men who do not live and die for football.

Why do you think European operators and DSTV have over 50-200 channels if people only want to watch football?

I think that the word soon (as used by HiTV) can be seen as:

[b]S[/b]ometimes
[b]O[/b]ptional
[b]O[/b]ngoing
[b]N[/b]ever

Hi Urfriend

So this not for for the 2008/2009? The incremental subscriptions that HiTV will obtain will not cover the costs of obtaining these rights over the three years, somebody has deep pockets.

HiTV is really only a football DTH and remember sport accounts for only 20% of a Platform, although they are the most vocal. That is why they are not eating into the Multichoice subscribers. The majority of these subscribers take both HiTV for the Football and DSTV for the entertainment.

You still have never answered my question how many transponders does HiTV have today!!!

By the way the SMS they have purchased (Magnaquest) is a good one and hopefully their subscribers will reap the benefit sooner rather than later.

Hi urfriend

How naive you are on how a Platform operates, I hope you are not involved in that side for he customers sake.
I am not wasting any more of my time telling you how it is, if you don't believe what I write then you have a problem understanding the business.

HiTV will not get National Geographic, Discovery or History as they are in bed with DSTV for a few more years, so don't give false promises to subscribers.

You still didn't answer my question, do HiTV have 2 transponders with Eutelsat?

Remember rule number one: The customer is King, they will not keep taking in all the rubbish you keep telling them and will walk with their feet. A lot would have gone by now and HITV's only saving grace has been the EPL, believe me, lose that in 18 months time and they are dead in the water. I would be concerned that how many subs will HiTV lose during June and July when there in no EPL?

Hi Urfriend

So you are telling us that HITV has now two transponders?

Your fact is not correct about DSTv offering $22 million for Nigeria, it was nearer $12 million, trust me.

This anti-competition is a farce. If you ever thought if exclusive rights are withdrawn from DSTV it would allow HITV to get the channels you would be wrong.
It is still up to the Content provider to decide if they want to sell or not to HITV (or any other Platform). You have on one side of the table Multichoice offering payment for 2 million subs, remember the Content provider will get a minimum of $200,000 per month from Multichoice at 10 cents per subscriber. The other side of the table is HITV with, if we believe your figures, 165,000, i.e. $16,500 per month. Now you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see which one the Content provider will chose.
Multichoice uses the argument that if the Content provider sells the Channel to anyone else then the will only pay them $50,000 per month. Thats how they do their business and it works, although it's not exclusivity in the legal terms it is practically that and there is nothing anyone can do about it until they come close to Multichoices numbers.

On your reception of the signal from EPL; I know how you get your signal, but you left it with the signal in France, you still need to get it to your subscribers so therefore you need to send them down from Eutelsat W4 where you have today one transponder, i.e. 15 channels max. Right or wrong?

By the way I love when then there are delays HITV blames everybody but themselves. When there was the strike by the fibre optic supplier SAT-3, HITV sent out to the newspapers apologizing for the problems they were experiencing due to the SAT3 strike. Does anyone believe them anymore, all DTH platforms should have a backup in the form of an uplink satellite feed such as Vsat from Eutelsat, so that the customer does not have any inconvenience.

Hi sology

HITV paid way over the top in paying for the EPL, $16 million more than their nearest competitor. I also know here they paid over the top for the Champions League, throwing money at it. They do not seem to understand that there is more to life than sport, only 20% of a platform is watched for sport but these subscribers are the most demanding, especially in Nigeria.
A major mistake made by operators is that if they do not start with a full bouquet of programs (such as HITV) they they think that they can make the funds needed on the "run" and have new subscribers to fund any growth. This is one of the reasons previous Nigerian platforms failed.
HITV paid off most of their debt with a private placement and GTB seem to back them at every turn, they have no excuse in getting good channels onto their platform, apart from what we have been told that there are no transponders left at Eutelsat and as myfriend said they will not be available until the second quarter of 2009.