FIFA has granted media rights to five major broadcasting entities in the sub-Saharan Africa, following an open tender process for 42 territories in the region.
According to a statement from the FIFA Media Office, the tender was launched on Oct. 21 and it included the media rights to all 2017-2018 FIFA events.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that these included the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.
The statement listed five broadcasters as those awarded certain media rights with regard to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
These are: Econet Media, Supersport, South African Broadcasting Corporation, StarTimes and CANAL+.
The statement said: “Econet Media, by way of free-to-air and pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub‑Saharan Africa, except South Africa.
“Supersport, by way of pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub‑Saharan Africa.
“SABC, by way of free-to-air transmission for exploitation in South Africa.
“StarTimes, by way of pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa.
“CANAL+, by way of pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa and Nigeria.”
The statement also listed four of the five broadcasters, with the exception of CANAL+, as those awarded certain media rights with regard to other 2017‑2018 FIFA events.
It said: “Econet Media, by way of free-to-air and pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub-Saharan Africa except South Africa.
“Supersport, by way of pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub‑Saharan Africa.
“SABC, by way of free-to-air transmission for exploitation in South Africa.
“StarTimes, by way of pay-TV transmission for exploitation in all territories of sub-Saharan Africa (except the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 in South Africa).”
The statement added that the outcome of this tender process enables FIFA to reach its aim of securing the widest possible coverage across the region.
“This allows the highest profile matches to be available on a free-to-air basis.”
It said FIFA has assured of access to high-quality viewing experience for all its events worldwide.
It said: “By working together with reliable partners in the region, FIFA will make sure that football fans have access to a high-quality viewing experience for each of the FIFA events, including by way of digital platforms.
“We are delighted to work with our appointed broadcast partners in the sub-Saharan region to allow millions of fans to enjoy each of FIFA’s various events across a multitude of platforms,” FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer Philippe Le Floc’h said.
The statement listed the 42 territories in the region to include: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic , Chad, Congo, Congo DR and Côte d’Ivoire.
Others are: Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger and Nigeria.
The rest are: Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
NAN reports that the 2017-2018 FIFA events comprise the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017, FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 and FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017.
The rest are the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2018, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2018 and 2018 FIFA World Cup.
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