HiTV, which is the Premier League’s main broadcast partner at present in Nigeria, says that the consortium venture already has 18 partners and is looking for more. The consortium hopes to challenge the pan-regional dominance of the Naspers-owned Multichoice platform. Revenues from the new platform would be invested into local media and culture.
The consortium would split the cost of the rights between its members in proportion to their size and that of their local market. It believes that local subscription and advertising revenues would finance their individual payments. HiTV already recoups its entire Premier League fee through three sponsorship deals.
The consortium hopes to make a bid for pan-Africa, although the chances of it succeeding in the North African territories that are traditionally part of the Middle East deal are extremely slim. Competition in the Middle East is likely to be fierce, with Al-Jazeera Sports, owned by the government, planning a major bid to wrest the rights from incumbent Showtime.
In the present round of deals, rights fees for Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria and South Africa exceed $100 million over the three-year period from 2007-08 to 2009-10.