The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is inviting bids for television rights to its domestic club competitions.
The invitation to tender covers the top-tier Ghana Premier League and the second-tier Division One League, the Women’s Premier League, and the men’s and women’s FA Cups.
News of the GFA’s media rights ITT comes amid reports in the country that a 10-year rights agreement between the national federation and StarTimes, the digital terrestrial and pay-TV operator, has been “abrogated”.
In 2016, StarTimes agreed to pay a total of just under $18m for the rights from 2017 to 2026 to various properties run by the GFA. These included the Ghana Premier League, National Division One, FA Cup, Women’s Premier League and youth football.
One of the main stumbling blocks is reported to have been the issue of an obligation on StarTimes to construct football pitches in co-operation with the GFA.
The agreement with StarTimes provided the GFA with a significant uplift on the value of its broadcast rights when compared to the previous three-season contract with pay-TV broadcaster SuperSport.
Media organisations have been invited to bid for all of the competitions or any combination of the properties in the new ITT. Deadline for the submission of bids is 5pm on Tuesday, December 10.
The GFA is also inviting bids for the radio rights to the same properties. The deadline for the submission of these bids is also 5pm on December 10.