Live broadcast to start next month, says Azam

Tanzanian pay television station, Azam TV have tentatively pushed the start of the live broadcasting of the Football Kenya Federation Premier League matches to next month.

Live transmission was originally scheduled to begin after the Fifa international break last week.

Azam Media signed a seven-year $9.1 million (Sh1.3 billion) broadcast rights deal for the FKF Premier League with the federation on August 31 in Nairobi.

Azam Media Kenya General Manager Martin Abuya told Nation Sport that live broadcast of the league will begin next month.

He said they were still working on the finer details including putting in place equipment before Kenya’s foremost football club competition can return to television screens.

“We pay the broadcast rights to FKF according to the amount we declared during the launch. Though we had planned to start last weekend, there were still details we were finalising and we will, tentatively, start next month,” said Abuya without mentioning the exact date.

Nation Sport understands that the Tanzanian media giant plans to start transmission in a big way by covering Kenya’s biggest club match, Mashemeji derby pitting arch rivals Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards on October 6. 

This will be in the seventh round of matches for the league.

Clubs, however, say that they are yet to receive any TV payments from the federation.

With the 18 league clubs still in the dark over the amount each of them will receive from the broadcast deal, a source at the federation said a meeting is planned to resolve the matter.

“A meeting will be held between the federation and club chairmen so that an agreement is reached. As you know, Azam pays the money to the federation which then agrees with the member clubs on allocation,” said FKF communication officer Ken Okaka.

FKF president Nick Mwendwa said during the partnership announcement that clubs will earn more money that they had ever received.

The league had been without a major sponsor since 2021 when StarTimes TV terminated their contract with the federation.

With Azam having minimal presence in Kenya, Abuya urged Kenyan football fans to buy their decoders or download the app to stream the matches on their phones or TV.

“We have received calls from customers who want to buy our decoders from Kisii, Kisumu and Kakamega which is the fan base of Shabana, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards.

“This shows that we have started penetrating the Kenyan market and want to assure our customers of better services. The decoders are available,” said Abuya.

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