There were times when SuperSport TV strutted our streets with the temerity of a peacock. Everyone pledged allegiance to them. You had to. They owned television sports in Kenya.
So today, Kenyan Premier League (KPL) is suffering a complete TV blackout, thanks to the egos of some SuperSport managers.
After round one of the league, SuperSport switched off their cameras from covering subsequent matches citing a couple of reasons that do not make logical sense, one of them being that the league was expanded without considering the ripple effects. The other reasons that SuperSport has given range from lack of respect from KPL because of new entrants and sub-standard match venues.
If SuperSport is contracted to air 80 matches across the season, why can’t they just do so without stretching their reach beyond their contractual agreement? And if it is the additional teams that they do not want, why can’t they just ignore their matches?
I think the issue of 18/16 teams in the league is a long gone story. The Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) has ruled on this and we cannot go back to it.
Did SuperSport make their submissions about the parameters of expanding the league to the tribunal? If they did then they should respect the outcome because the SDT decision was final.
But now, behaving like that kid on the playground who owns the ball and runs away with it when the opponents score will not help the league. It is not even helping their case.
For starters, the broadcaster has enjoyed monopoly in football across this continent for far too long. But things are changing for Mother Africa. In the wake of numerous entrants in the football broadcast business, the least we expect from SuperSport is a realistic approach to the way they operate their business around the continent.
You see, there’s that beautiful girl in the village and she knows there’s no other like her.
Her disappointment comes when younger and more beautiful girls start sprouting all around, like mushrooms in the rainy season. Soon she’s no longer the axis on which the village rotates. KPL should demands certain answers too.
Why does SuperSport continue to use content from the league for its magazine shows, Mchakamchaka and Simba Soccer, while they refuse to air the matches live? The problem is that for a long time this broadcaster was the alpha and omega for KPL. The previous title sponsor of the league had very little, if any, interest in the management of the league.
Therefore SuperSport dictated most terms in the game’s management. Now that the league’s current partner is a direct beneficiary of the sport and consequently is expected to query its day-to-day running, SuperSport feels like a stepchild in the new arrangement.
Probably KPL should have considered taking SuperSport for counselling before they signed up SportPesa as the league’s title sponsor.
sports@standardmedia.co.ke
