Competition in the digital TV sector has been getting tougher by the day as content producers and distributors try to attract new and retain existing customers.
In a move to woo sporting fans in Kenya, StarTimes has acquired the rights for some sporting events. These include Germany football league (Bundesliga), International World Rally Championships and the World Boxing Titles.
The German Bundesliga is one of the fastest growing leagues in the world in terms of popularity and for StarTimes to get its broadcast rights in Kenya shows its commitment to providing the best content to its customers. StarTimes will have the exclusive rights to the German Bundesliga as from August 2015.
Commenting on this, Mr. Mark Lisboa, StarTimes Vice President said, “This is a demonstration of our commitment to improve the sports experience of our viewers and that we can – and will – deliver a growing array of exhilarating sporting action moving forward.” He went ahead to say that the company is bringing great sports content to its subscribers to ensure they get the best value for their money.
Read: Nigeria: MultiChoice has Been Barred from Increasing DStv’s Subscription Rates
Besides the Bundesliga, StarTimes has also acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the international World Rally Championships for the next two years. With this deal, subscribers can look forward to the Rally Argentina, Portugal, Italia, Poland, Finland, Rallye Deutschland, Australia, Rallye de France, Rally Espana and Wales Rally GB running between 24th April and 15th November 2015.
Commenting on this, Mr Lisboa said, “We are very excited to have signed this exclusive deal with World Rally Championships. This is one of the world’s most exciting motorsport championships, which is good news for the many motorsport enthusiasts among our subscribers.”
StarTimes will also air the World Boxing Title Bouts including the Lightweight (Jorge Linares vs Kevin Mitchell), Featherweight (Evgeny Gradovich vs Lee Selby) and Heavyweight (Anthony Joshua vs Kevin Johnson) bouts on May 30th 2015. Other tournaments that will be running in April include the Cruiserweight collision between Denis Lebedev and Youri Kalenga, Battle of undefeated, lightweight supremacy and the World Title showdown (super featherweight).
The company is also keen on acquiring sporting content that has been neglected by other broadcasters. This will include world’s best volleyball events World Beach Soccer series.
Will these new broadcast rights affect the industry’s leader, DStv? Yes , and probably DStv will wake up and stop hiking its subscription rates every year or risk losing subscribers.
Read: DStv Subscription Rates from 2012 To 2015
