Mpira TV lands deal with Fifa
FAM’s Mpira TV has clinched a deal with Fifa+ for the world football governing body to live-stream Malawi football on its digital platform.
The deal, signed on October 1, makes Football Association of Malawi (FAM) one of the member associations in Africa which Fifa has entered into an agreement with.
FAM commercial and marketing director Limbani Matola confirmed the development in an interview yesterday.
He said: “This is a milestone in our efforts to expand Mpira TV viewership. It shows that Fifa has confidence in us.”
Launched in April this year, Fifa+ live-streams domestic league games and programmes from around the globe and also provides match statistics through its archive of international football.
Matola said apart from exposing Malawian football, the association will also increase its broadcast revenue.
He said: “The world is going digital. By being on Fifa+, Malawi football will be available to millions of people via mobile gadgets.
“The more people watch Mpira TV content, the more broadcast revenue we will get. It’s the same way we do when we are participating in Fifa competitions.
“At the end of the competition, we get a cut from the broadcast rights revenue. In this case, we will get a share based on the traffic generated by Mpira TV on Fifa+.”
Following the deal, Fifa will provide technical support for the production of the content for Mpira TV.
Matola said: “There will be capacity building. Fifa will provide equipment such as cameras and also pay production costs.
“So, with this deal, we should be able to do live production of matches at all venues across the country. This will in turn also help create a variety of football content.”
In a statement, Fifa said Fifa+ aims at making football global and inclusive.
Over 29 000 men’s matches and over 11 000 women’s matches will be streamed on Fifa+, totalling over 40 000 matches per year, according to Fifa.
The statement reads in part: “Fifa+ represents the next step in our vision to make football truly global and inclusive, and it underpins Fifa’s core mission of expanding and developing football globally.
“Fifa+ will provide access to live football matches from every corner of the world, interactive games, news, tournament information, ground-breaking, unrivalled video content delivering truly global storytelling around the men’s and women’s game and much more.
“Fifa+ is the first sports federation ever to offer such an extensive streaming and content experience to its fans.”
Football marketing consultant Felix Ngamanya Sapao said the Fifa+ deal with Mpira TV will help to expose Malawian players.
He said: “There are so many gains from the deal, one of them being a platform to market Malawi talent to the world.”
In a related development, Mpira TV, which is currently on Zuku Television, is also expected to expand to Azam Television Channel 388.
Matola said this is in line with the association’s strategic plan to increase viewership and revenue.
He said: “We anticipate to expand to other channels. By end of this year, we should able to broadcast to other channels as well. We already started testing the signal on Azam Television.”
