Econet Wireless has been awarded the rights to broadcast the English Premier League (EPL) across sub-Saharan Africa on free-to-air basis for three seasons beginning from the 2016/2017 season.
Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore, said Econet will through its sports channel, Kwese Sports make available one Saturday afternoon Premier League live match on free-to-air basis each weekend of the season.
In addition to the live matches, weekly preview and review shows, will be available on the channel in 50 countries across the region.
Scudamore said they are very pleased that “Econet Media has chosen to invest in the package of free-to-air broadcasting, rights that we have made available in sub-Saharan Africa,”
“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.” he adds.
Also commenting on the deal, Joseph Hundah, Econet Media CEO, said “England’s Premier League is a globally prestigious sporting competition, one that is deeply loved by millions of African sports fans. As such we are very committed to obtaining these rights and have invested significantly to acquire them”.
Hundah  added that the company wants “to make this League available to fans across sub-Saharan Africa and so, through Kwese Sports FTA partners and other platforms, we hope to widen access to this property.”[quote font=”georgia” font_size=”22″ font_style=”italic” align=”right” bgcolor=”#” color=”#” bcolor=”#” arrow=”yes”]With this right acquisition, Econet says it now has access to two of the most important sports leagues in soccer; English Premier League and the Spanish League, through its ownership of Copa Del Rey.[/quote]
With this right acquisition, Econet says it now has access to two of the most important sports leagues in soccer; English Premier League and the Spanish League, through its ownership of Copa Del Rey.
According to the company, its newly established Kwese Sport on the other hand is able to sub-license public broadcasters, across the entire African continent, to show live games for free at weekends.
Econet is yet to announce when the Kwese TV will launch commercially, but it is now apparent that it will happen before August this year when the 2016/2017 Premier League will kick off.
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