City and Chelsea clash at Wembley for the traditional season opener in England.

Nigerians were looking forward to kick-start the season with the Community Shield but were shocked as neither DSTV, Kwese and StarTimes were able to show the game.

Viewing centre operators

Viewing centreoperators all over the country were also left shocked with the no-show from DSTV, Kwese and StarTimes.

visited a couple of viewing centres around Isolo, Okota and Ago area of Lagos to meet the operators who were disappointed with the loss of profit on Sunday.

Ola Adebogun, a carpenter who runs a viewing centre at his showroom along Ibe Road Okota expressed his disappointment that DSTV and Kwese which he subscribes to did not inform him that they won't be airing the game.

"I was not informed, I bought fuel, advertised the game on my board because I didn't know," Adebogun told Pulse Sports.

Adebogun was working on a project while there were about 10 people at his viewing centre, a very low turnout compared to the hundreds that cram into that little space on matchdays like this.

"This is not a good way to start the season at all, I hope this season goes well because this is not a good sign," Michael, a viewing centre operator along Ago Road told Pulse Sports.

Papa Ekene, a bar owner at Dorishamu Close, Okota is however hopeful that there won't be a repeat of this no-show incident when the Premier League and other top leagues in Europe kick off.

"Today is gone, we look forward to when the Premier League, , Italian league in the coming weeks," he said.

Nigerians on were left scrambling to find streaming websites to watch the game.

When Pulse Sports walked into a viewing centre around Isolo Market, they found a small crowd around a boy who was streaming the game on his phone.

Ifreke Inyang, an editor at Nigerian news platform Daily Post and a sports pundit provided his computer and data to his neighbourhood viewing centre to watch the game.

"I donated my laptop and date to my neighbourhood viewing centre to stream," Ifreke who is based in Lagos said.

"There were roughly about 300 to 400 people," he confirmed to Pulse Sports.

Irate Nigerians

The conversations dominated Twitter as irate Nigerians took to the social media to vent.

“So many people are asking of the Community Shield and whether it’s on television. The answer is no. It’s not on DStv or Kwese or StarTimes. None of them got the rights to the game,” a Twitter user with the handle eanokwah said.

“DSTV SuperSport, Kwese TV and StarTimes TV are all saying that they won't show the FA Community Shield on Sunday because they dont have the broadcasting right & yet these are the only 3 pay TV companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. So who won the bid & who will show the match? Netflix?Nathan_quao asked.

“It's high time our internet become very affordable o, imagine dstv, startimes, kwese....not showing community shield. something I'd stream live,” _iamphil_ said.

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DSTV on blast

DSTV bear the brunt of the anger as it has also been revealed that they won’t be showing the FA Cup and League Cup this season.

It is not known yet if Kwese or StarTimes have rights to show the competitions.

“No Carabao cup games, no community shield and no FA Cup games, so what is the sub increase for then? DSTV is ripping us off big time @DStvNg,”  a Twitter user topgee992 wrote.

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“The implications of the community shield tv right loss by DSTV also mean that no FA cup matches, officially my DSTV decoder is now for sale. Please dm, I have a DSTV explorer decoder to sell,” Naija_PR said.

“I did not watch a single pre-season game this season, now DSTV lost the rights to show the Community Shield as well as the FA Cup and Carrabao Cup without letting anybody know? I won't get to watch today's game, yet they managed to increase subscription at the same time. SMH,” Ifeabunike said.

“In plain language, if you're an avid lover of English football, be aware that DSTV will show only league fixtures next season. No Community Shield. No FA Cup. No Carabao Cup,” Ifreke said.

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“How can you pay N10K monthly sub on DSTV & you cant watch Community Shield? Not to talk of no FA Cup/League Cup? I said we need competition in this Cable TV industry because enough is enough,” ani_nomso said.

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A host of DSTV and Kwese subscribers confirmed to Pulse Sports that they were also not informed that they won't be able to show Community Shield.

Following the no-show from the pay-TV companies, there has been confusion over where Nigerians can watch their favourite leagues and competitions around Europe.

Pulse Sports have confirmed the competitions that the three Pay-Tv companies have broadcast rights to. .

As usual, DSTV have the rights to the premium competitions like the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Champions League, the Europa League and the newly introduced UEFA Nations League.

DSTV will show the games they have rights to on their SuperSport channels.

Serie A fans can also watch all the games on the SuperSports channels on Gotv which is also owned by Multichoice, owners of DSTV.

For this season, DSTV have not been able to acquire rights for the English FA Cup and the League Cup.

Kwese have already acquired the broadcast rights for the League Cup and will continue to air games from the competition.

They also have the broadcast right for one live Premier League game every Saturday,  the EFL Championships and the Copa Libertadores.

After losing their Serie A broadcast rights, StarTimes are now left with Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Turkish Super Lig.

Non of the pay-TV companies have acquired the rights to the FA Cup this season. While DSTV says they failed to get the rights, it is not known whether Kwese and StarTimes are working to get it as at the time of this report.