Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
PREMIER Soccer League chairman Farai Jere yesterday hailed the broadcast deal with Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) as a major step forward in their quest to commercialise domestic football.
The agreement, which was a product of three years of negotiations, was signed at the Zimpapers headquarters yesterday.
Under the arrangement, ZTN are expected to broadcast PSL league matches and tournaments by livestreaming on their growing online television platforms in a pay-per-view model.
The first matches are expected to go on air next week when the season-opening cluster tournament, featuring the 18 topflight clubs, gets underway across four venues. Fans will be able to watch the matches online using their gadgets.
“This is a milestone agreement in place. It will be pay-per-view agreement which we are happy with. That will mean to say our fans will be able to watch matches even on their gadgets. Wherever you are you won’t need to rush to sit down in front of television set to watch a match,” said Jere.
“We are very excited because it’s moving in the right direction of PSL where we would want to commercialise a lot of these things.
“ZTN have the equipment which we looked at. I think the equipment will be able to do the job and we have a product that we all know.
“So this is a very fair partnership, it’s a win-win partnership which is quite integrative where both parties are going to benefit. We can’t wait for the matches to start.
“This is the first partnership that we have signed and we are hoping to sign more. So this is the deal that we have here. It’s a partnership, not a sponsorship package.”
The league boss said the deal comes at the most opportune time as fans, who are the game’s biggest stakeholders, will not miss the action when football returns under the Covid-19 regulations where all matches will be played behind closed doors.
Jere said the PSL were confident of the quality of ZTN productions, hence the decision to jump into bed with one of Zimbabwe’s fastest rising television networks. ZTN broadcasted the only match that was played last year when Highlanders and FC Platinum clashed in the Castle Challenge Cup at Barbourfields.
“We are extremely proud to be establishing a partnership with one of the most exciting, innovative and dynamic media companies in Zimbabwe.
“ZTN has an outstanding track record of delivering top quality programming. Our special relationship with ZTN started last year during the Castle Challenge Cup between Highlanders and FC Platinum at Barbourfields where we achieved a record viewing of 600 000 across the board.
“We have a partnership where you guys (ZTN) are not committed to us as PSL that we have to pay you something but it’s a partnership based on ‘we eat what we kill’. We share what we would have brought on the table.
“We are confident that this broadcasting partnership will provide our fans with greater access to the game, which they love so much.
“The coronavirus pandemic affected all areas of our lives and our football was not an exception. With fan access to the stadium restricted due to the virus, we are happy that this partnership has come at the opportune time and will enable our fans dotted across the globe to catch the action live from the comfort of their homes, offices, or wherever they would be,” said Jere.
Zimpapers Chief Executive Officer, Pikirayi Deketeke, hailed the new broadcast marriage. He said the league and Zimpapers already had a long-standing partnership which has seen topflight matches being covered by the newspapers under the organisation’s stable.
“It is indeed a culmination of a relationship that has been going on for a very long time. As you know Zimpapers is diversifying to television but has always been in the media for a very long time. So our relationship in terms of media coverage has been on for a long time on our papers,” said Deketeke.
“I think most of us grew up, at a time when getting onto a bus you would see people holding their Herald turned the other way round because they are reading what is going on in terms of our football.
“It (football) has always been a big draw for all our audience but now we taking this relationship to even a higher level, where now, because of multimedia, people are not just reading about their football but they can now watch their football on the gadgets of their choice.
“Gone are the days when people would probably wait in the lounge and watch television. Today they watch it on their mobile phones or their tablets and they would want to know what is going on in football.
“So we really appreciate this partnership which we believe will be very powerful because football is huge,” said Deketeke.
The diversified media group was recently awarded a free-to-air television licence by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and are looking to get on air soon.
The two organisations are also looking at opportunities to expand the relationship by taking on board Zimpapers radio stations like Star FM in Harare, Diamond FM in Mutare and Nyaminyami FM in Kariba as official broadcasters.
ZTN general manager Nomsa Nkala said a rollout plan will be finalised once the PSL fixtures are released. Nkala said the broadcaster will also be investing more in sport.
“We do a lot of productions around football depending on what teams are playing. We will talk to audiences around those teams.
“We will also do build-ups to each match. We will do a lot of analyses. There are a lot of skills within Zimpapers that have the ability to do that. So we will provide a rich package that will go beyond the live matches,” said Nkala.
Online Reporter