3MILLION FOR YOUR NATION'S CUP FIX?
Iam painfully nescient of things relating to sports. So I have called on a guest blogger to share a nugget or two about The Nations Cup. I am now secure in the Nigerian-ness of this blog. Please enjoy the first entry of this year written by .
My mother is one of many Nigerians that is desperately frustrated about the possibility of missing the upcoming African Nations Cup. Unless there is an act of God, .
The company that owns the broadcasting rights to the Africa Cup Nations, TV5 Monde, is seeking 3m Euros. The Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria () has offered 1.25m Euros and both entities are now playing a with Nigerian viewers being caught in the middle. As such, with less than 4 days till the tournament's start date, Nigerians do not know whether they will watch the event.
I am in complete support of the BON's decision to not pay the requested amount. After all, the organization has a budget that it must adhere to and if spending 3m euros will create a budget problem, then it must not be done. Besides there is very little need for Nigeria to budge on this matter. Over 30% of Africa's football watchers reside in Nigeria, so if the company that owns the rights does not understand that it will be losing advertising revenue and other monies by isolating its biggest audience, then their decision makers should be fired. Did I forget to mention that Nigeria is ranked of all African teams by FIFA, again? (Take that Ghana, I saw how you Ghanaians attacked Nigerians (and blogger, Nelson Abbey) mercilessly last year when your team Nigeria in February. Okay, calm down, I'm just messing with you guys. Keep the hate mail to a controlled minimum!) Basically, it is evident that TV5 Monde is trying to hold Nigerians hostage and deprive the people of the one thing that a country full of football fanatics need - their football fix! Yes, TV5 Monde needs to make a profit, after all, business is business. But, it has up the prices exorbitantly making it cost prohibitive for Nigeria and to watch their own football tournament! Nigeria has to take a stand, not just for itself but for other smaller African countries with less bargaining power.
And, why does a French company own the broadcasting rights to Africa's premier football competition? Well, BON's heads are now pounding their chests claiming that NIGCOMSAT is in a position, collaborating with BON and other broadcasters, to provide the tournament to the Nigeria and others on the continent, in hopes of a future piece of the broadcasting pie.
All this writer can say is that my mother is itching for football! She wants it, she needs it, and come Sunday, January20th, she had better have it. So, TV5 Monde, wise up, play nice and give Nigerians their Nation's Cup coverage!
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10Comment(s):
I guess I am allowed to make comments on this post right? I think the situation could have turned out better if the market was allowed to do its job. Oh I forgot we are in Nigeria, the poster child of market imperfections. Unfourtunately there is very little the consumer can do about this situation. This is more like a game of Chicken on a rail track....I did not know you were into game theory LOL
TV5 Monde is actually not a french company. It's coowned by french public television, and the francophone belgian, swiss and canadian public televisions.
Why do they have the rights ? They probably had the biggest offer (or the biggest bribe) and beat Canal Horizons and MultiChoice/DSTV or some other competitor.
I think part of the problem is that no matter who acquires the rights ( and in this case it's a cable/sattelite network), they are obligated to resell it to conventional network channels in each countries. Francophone countries are probably alright as they have contracts with TV5 or may even be part of the consurtium. So that leaves anglophone countries.
From what I gather Nigeria isnt the only one having a problem coming up with the amount. And from what I remember this isn't the first time national broadcaster and tv rights owners play the uncertainity game till the very end.
After all, they both loose if they don't strike a deal. Yeah Nigeria is a huge market but that also means that nigerian broadcaster will make a lot of money and therefore can pay higher prices than say Zambia or Seychelles. Gotta pay the price to be the boss(or the Giant of Africa), right ?
Furthermore, the price hike was to be expected as the competition is getting more popular and CAF noticed a surge in local advertising revenue.
In any case, Nigerians will be able to watch the games, only not on public free television (and i'm damn sue, bars and satelite providers and pirates are rejoicing at that possibility).
That said, Ivory Coast or Cameroon will win this one.
Omodudu,
The market is allowed to do its job and consumers can do something about it.
But BON wants a freebie or rather isn't ready to reallocate the part of its budget used for its executives' expenses to something really productive (in the financial sense).
hey!!...i didn't think naija would be included in this...rubbish...
I remember how this same thing happened like 7 years ago, and we missed the first match.
So can I take it that you are back now?
Hmmm, my mother is also itching for football and I don't know what she will do if she doesn't get it. Hmmm.
And for those of us who do not get any form of Cable at all, I think http://tv.africanpath.com/ will be broadcasting the games on the internet.
P.S. Omodudu, I updated my writing samples
UPDATE: Nigerians will now be able to watch the Nation's Cup. The other party caved in and BON bought the rights for 1.2million euros. My mother sends her thanks to BON!
Hi All, Zambia missed out all together and dropped out of the TV game as soon as they heard the price tag.
In the end things turned out fine for Nigeria. BTW, I am now told by friends in Accra that Naija is very well represented in Ghana's capital city right now The figures I am hearing is that approx 30K Super Eagles fans are cheering their team for tomorrows super tough match against Cote d'Ivoire.
So Nigerians will be able to cheer from Naija and Ghana, but folks are saying it may take more to beat Cote d'Ivoire. COme to think of it the West African teams are all off the chain. Nobody else can really come close.
Oh and the games are also available on Africanpath
Ah, Olorun mi oh! 1-0 kolo!
Well, congrats to Cote D'Ivoire. As that is my second home, I can cheer them for a good job done. But, it hurts...