New firm targets local TV football
Armed with modern equipment and expertise, a new broadcasting company Topsports has opened its doors in Blantyre, promising to reshape the untapped domestic football broadcasting market.
In an interview on Wednesday, Topsports operations manager Kelvin Moyo and events manager Nicola Alibaba said they wanted to help local clubs, associations and players to generate money through selling games on television.
“We have television equipment in high definition and standard definition for recording games. We can tailor-make football packages for clubs and bring in sponsors for them. We have engaged Africa Cup of Nations television rights holders Afnex to see how we can enter into long-term partnership.
“Talks with MBC TV are also at an advanced stage,” the former TVM sports presenter Moyo said on Wednesday.
The company also intends to enter into public, private partnership (PPP) with ground owners such as government, to refurbish and manage venues and ensure that teams generate enough from gate collections, billboards and perimeter fence advertising.
“Our football is played without any appearance fee whatsoever and, now, we are saying it is high time they benefited something as that is how they do it elsewhere. We have done research, we are passionate and we have the expertise,” said Alibaba.
Topsports gets into action with a launch through a two-day corporate football tournament at Country Club Limbe (CCL) from November 23 2013, to interact with corporate sector executives.
The new company will also formalise all requirements with FAM, which controls all broadcasting rights of domestic games, Moyo said.
A fortnight ago, FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda told The Daily Times that broadcasters were now mandated to bid for rights before beaming local games.
The Super League of Malawi general secretary Williams Banda described the coming in of Topsports as a positive development, but advised them to engage all stakeholders and address challenges they may face in their capacity to cover games, apathy and financial capacity.
Moyo insisted that they have enough equipment, workforce and financial backing from their three local investors. He could not name them.
