StarTimes, the pay-television broadcaster that operates across sub-Saharan Africa, has moved the Sanyuka TV channel back to a cheaper subscription tier to allow more domestic fans watch coverage of football’s Uganda Premier League.
The switch has been made after public criticism about the migration of Sanyuka TV to the mid-tier ‘Basic Bouquet’ on February 1.
The channel has now been placed in the ‘Nova’ tier, the most affordable of StarTimes’ three packages.
StarTimes said that “the only way we can achieve this original objective of ours is by keeping Sanyuka TV, the local channel on which the games air, on the most affordable StarTimes bouquet – Nova”.
Viewers will also be able to stream Uganda Premier League matches via the official StarTimes app.
The monthly charge for the Nova package ranges between UGX11,000 (€2.68/$2.91) and UGX13,000 per month.
In the middle of 2018, the Federation of Uganda Football Associations signed a 10-year broadcast and sponsorship rights agreement with StarTimes. Along with broadcast rights to the top two tiers of Ugandan football, the contract also included title sponsorship of the Uganda Premier League.
The agreement is worth a total of $7.24m (€6.57m), or $724,000 per year.