January 09, (THEWILL) – With the Africa Cup of Nations due to kick off in just four days, uncertainty remains over how Nigerian fans will be able to watch the football tournament. The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has raised concerns over alleged breaches of the country’s Broadcasting Code by StarTimes in their broadcasting of the event according to a SportsVillageSquare report.
The NBC, established in 1992 to regulate Nigeria’s broadcast industry, wrote to the AFCON rights holders New World Televisions S.A (NWTV) and the Confederation of African Football highlighting potential violations of the Code regarding the event’s broadcast rights. They are worried that aspects of the Code, created to protect Nigerian broadcasters and viewers, are being contravened.
Specifically, the practice of “bundling” international rights in a way that negatively impacts transmission and availability in Nigeria appears to breach the Code. Bundling refers to rights being sold on a multi-country basis rather than nationally, allowing multinational over national interests.
Pan-African broadcaster StarTimes insisted to NWTV and CAF that they required continent-wide rights, delaying finalisation of NWTV/CAF’s Nigerian free-to-air rights deal. This hampers efforts by Nigerian broadcasters to secure sponsorship to cover costs with the tournament starting imminently.
The NBC has expressed dissatisfaction at the potential Code breaches, stating that unless urgently addressed, fans may not be able to watch AFCON games featuring the Super Eagles. With minimal build-up coverage so far, the NBC is concerned interests overriding those of Nigerian broadcasters and supporters have caused this and is seeking a resolution of the contravention.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
