FCB Nyasa Bullets missed an opportunity to cash in on television rights after failing to have their high-profile CAF CAF Champions League second preliminary round home match against TP Mazembe beamed on television on Sunday.
Apparently, Bullets failed to reach an agreement with local production houses, public broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), privately-owned Mibawa Studios and Mpira Television.
In an interview yesterday, Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said none of the broadcasters managed to buy the rights to beam the match live.”
Bullets were offering K10 million for the television broadcasting rights which the media houses felt was on the higher side.
Prior to the match, which Bullets lost 0-1, some television stations had indicated that they would beam the match.
However, it was not on any television station or live streaming platform, leaving millions of fans frustrated.
Chigoga said the production houses did not negotiate for the deal as they were willing to reduce the fee.
He said: “Had they negotiated, we would have considered them. Football in the modern world is business. Even at 50 percent discount, some of them still weren’t able to buy.”
Mpira Televison, which is owned by Football Association of Malawi (FAM), was supposed to produce the match and sell the feed to other television stations.
But FAM marketing and broadcasting manager Tulipo Mwenelupembe said they could not afford the fee Bullets was offering.
“Considering the high cost of production, it was not going to be possible for us to pay the fee.
“We did manage to produce the preliminary match against Dragon FC and sold the feed to Mibawa.
“But we barely broke even because of the high costs of production. So, for the match against Mazembe, we could not take a risk.
“But we don’t blame Bullets. This is business. Although the fans suffered, Bullets had to make decisions to safeguard their business interests.”
In a statement, Mibawa Television also said it failed to broadcast the match due to exorbitant broadcasting rights fees.
The statement reads in part: “We have been informed that Mibawa Studios and other production media houses are not producing the FCB Nyasa Bullets vs TP Mazembe game today in the CAF Champions League second round qualifiers due to the high broadcasting rights fee charged by FCB Nyasa Bullets in a market where advertising income in football is very minimal.
“We have also been informed that Mpira Television partners have also failed to justify the fee to their partners as it will not be possible to recover the fee being requested.
“Live football production, is one of the most expensive productions in television broadcasting.”
Mibawa Studios managing director John Nthakomwa confirmed the development in an interview.
On his part, MBC public relations and customer affairs manager Chisomo Mwamadi said all was set for the broadcast of the match until last minute disagreements.
He said: “We had some serious hiccups and ended up broadcasting it on Radio 2 only”
The development means Bullets have failed to cash in on television rights not just locally, but internationally since there was no feed even for the visitors TP Mazembe.
Elsewhere, clubs make a fortune from television and broadcasting rights.
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