StarTimes Media has announced its acquisition of 2018 Fifa World Cup broadcast rights as Fifa officially granted media rights to all 2017-2018 tournaments.
The company has secured the pay television transmission rights for exploitation in Kenya and other territories across sub-Saharan Africa. Besides the 2018 Fifa World Cup to be staged in Russia between June 16 to July 15, 2018, StarTimes has also acquired pay television transmission rights for all other 2017 - 2018 Fifa tournaments including:
FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017 (20th May 2017 – 11th June 2017)
FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 (17th June 2017 – 2nd July 2017)
FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 (6th October 2017 – 28th October 2017)
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2017 (27th April 2017 – 7th May 2017)
2018 FIFA World Cup (16th June 2018 – 15th July 2018)
FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2018
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2018
While making the announcement, StarTimes Vice-President Mark Lisboa noted that the acquisition of these media rights is a milestone that will enable more Kenyan households enjoy access to the prestigious tournaments through the company’s affordable pay television platform.
"We are delighted to secure the broadcast rights to the 2018 World Cup, a tournament that every soccer fan across the globe looks forward to every four years, the fact that StarTimes will bring this showpiece to Kenyan households is a great breakthrough as it demonstrates our progressive commitment to provide access to premium content at the most affordable subscription costs."
StarTimes is set to broadcast all the 64 World Cup matches live, a first for the broadcaster having made significant inroads towards securing major sports properties where the company currently broadcasts The Bundesliga, Serie A as well as the Chinese Super league exclusively. The various Fifa tournaments are therefore, a strong addition to the company’s offering as it seeks to stamp its authority in the broadcast of key sporting events.
StarTimes has dedicated five sports channels that will broadcast the respective tournaments including two High Definition channels namely Sports Premium and World Premium as well as Sports Arena, Sports life and Sports focus enabling the company to air multiple live matches at the same time.
Interestingly, the company’s subscribers will be in a position to enjoy these prestigious tournaments from as little as Ksh 500 per month where subscribing to basic bouquet, Classic or Unique bouquet that retail at Ksh 499, 999 and 1,499 respectively, will enable households to access to all the live matches and more.
The same will be available from as little as Ksh 899 on Smart bouquet and Ksh 1,499 for Super bouquet on the StarTimes satellite television platform.
