The station announced its securing an exclusive free-to-air(FTA) rights for the 2018 FIFA world Cup and the FIFA Confederation Cup 2017. This means a number of African sports fans can catch live all actions of the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, and watch football legends like Messi, Ronald, Neymar among others engage in their best trade.
With this deal, Kwesé Sports will broadcast the tournaments through its Pan-African FTA channel, Kwesé Free Sports which is Africa’s largest FTA channel with a potential audience exceeding 100 million viewers.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Econet Media, Joseph Humdah said the World Cup was a major event for many.
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“There is no doubt that the FIFA World Cup is a highlight for sports fans all over the globe and Africa is home to some of the game’s biggest fans. We had to have these major sporting events on our platforms," he said.
"With exclusive rights to broadcast the tournament free-to-air, we are staying true to our intention to deliver the best sporting programming to as many people as possible across the continent”.
“The exclusivity of our FTA rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 means Kwesé is the only platform on the continent licensed to bring live action from these two iconic events free of charge”.
FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer, Phillippe Le Floc’h explained why this right was given to Econet Media.
“FIFA has decided to award media rights to Econet Media because we trust in their professionalism and capacity to provide a high-quality viewing experience through the Kwesé network," he said.
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In a statement released on the Kwesé Sports’ website, the deal was stated to also include the FIFA U20 World Cup 2017, FIFA U17 World Cup 2017, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017, FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup 2018 and FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup 2018.
These sporting events will be shown on all Kwesé platforms, including Kwesé Free Sports, Kwesé Sports 1 & 2, KweséSports.com and the Kwesé App.
These deals, in addition to the ESPN and NBA Deal please read, show Kwesé Sports is expanding its sporting programmes and content. Thereby, positioning itself as a global sport platform for Africa need.
