FIFA U-20 World Cup 2015 to be televised live on StarTimes

Soccer lovers in Kenya can now catch up on the latest action during this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament which kicked off last weekend in New Zealand live and exclusively on StarTimes.

This follows the signing of an exclusive deal between StarTimes and the world’s football governing body, FIFA that will see StarTimes broadcast four major soccer tournaments namely this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand, Women’s World Cup Canada, Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal and U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The four competitions will be broadcast on both StarTimes and StarTimes Satellite in all sub-Sahara African territories.

The African continent will be represented by Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Mali and will be battling out with other major soccer powerhouses such as Brazil, Germany, Portugal and Argentina among others. The 52 matches pitying 24 teams will be broadcast live on StarTimes Sport 2 channel with the World Champions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2015 being crowned on 7^th July, 2015.

Commenting on the development, Gary Rathbone, Head of Sport for StarTimes said “We are very excited to have secured these exclusive pay TV rights from FIFA to broadcast these prestigious competitions. Football remains a very popular choice and continues to gain momentum both as a participatory and spectator experience across Africa hence they will provide our viewers with high quality viewing entertainment,” noted Rathbone.

StarTimes also secured the exclusive pay TV rights deal with FIFA to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 football tournament starting June 6^th to July 5^th 2015 that will be taking place in Canada. 

Coverage of the tournament will start exclusively on StarTimes Sport 2 on 6^th June 2015 with the final and closing ceremony scheduled for July 5^th, 2015.

“We are very excited to have secured these exclusive rights from FIFA to broadcast yet another prestigious competition. Millions of people will be watching and we hope that it will inspire young girls in Africa and specifically in Kenya to get involved in the sport,” concluded Rathbone.

Twenty four teams from across the world will be taking part in the largest single sports event for women worldwide, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 tournament. It will be the first single sport event held in Canada.

StarTimes will also be televising this year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Portugal from 6^th June to 5^th July and FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile from 17^th October to 18^th November on StarTimes Sport 2 and StarTimes Focus channels.

StarTimes secures key sports properties once held by MultiChoice’s DSTV

Competition in the digital TV sector has moved a notch higher as key players in the industry move to secure content that appeal to consumers with an emphasis on affordability.

In the new twist, StarTimes has moved to woo more sports fans in Kenya by wrestling some key sports properties from fiercest rivals DSTV. The company has secured exclusive deals to broadcast the International World Rally Championships, the World Boxing Titles and Germany football league, the Bundesliga. 

The motorsport deal will see StarTimes broadcast the international World Rally Championships Exclusively for the next two years. Kenyan subscribers can look forward to the upcoming Rally Argentina, Portugal, Italia, Poland, Finland, Rallye Deutschland, Australia, Rallye de France, Rally Espana and Wales Rally GB running between 24th April and 15th November 2015. This will include world’s greatest off-road events and at least 20 hours of archive shows, featuring highlights from over the years including things like “Best Crashes”.

“We are very excited to have signed this exclusive deal with World Rally Championships. This is one of the world’s most exciting motorsport championships, which is good news for the many motorsport enthusiasts among our subscribers,” says StarTimes Vice President Mr. Mark Lisboa. 

In addition, StarTimes has secured broadcast rights to the German Bundesliga, arguably the fastest growing league in terms of popularity in the world which the company will be broadcasting exclusively from August 2015.

StarTimes will equally air the World Boxing Title Bouts including the Lightweight (Jorge Linares vs Kevin Mitchell), Featherweight (Evgeny Gradovich vs Lee Selby) and Heavyweight (Anthony Joshua vs Kevin Johnson) bouts on May 30th 2015. Other tournaments that will be running in April include the Cruiserweight collision between Denis Lebedev and Youri Kalenga, Battle of undefeated, lightweight supremacy and the World Title showdown (super featherweight).

“This is a demonstration of our commitment to improve the sports experience of our viewers and that we can – and will – deliver a growing array of exhilarating sporting action moving forward,” noted Mr. Lisboa.  

With the local market becoming more competitive, he noted that now is the time to bring great sports content to StarTimes subscribers and ensure that they get real value for their money with sports content on the platform.

The rich sporting action will also feature some of the world’s best volleyball events, including the Men’s and Women’s World Cup tournaments, after signing a three year deal with the federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) and acquiring FIFA’s entertaining World Beach Soccer series.

Mr. Lisboa observed that acquiring content that the traditional broadcasters have neglected for many years is the best way forward. “There is so much great sport out there that people know and love that is totally under-served.” In this respect, StarTimes will look to reach out to a range of sports fans to create a more inclusive sports experience on TV”.

He emphasized that StarTimes was also committed to bringing their viewers the high-profile events as well. Last year the company acquired the qualifying games for the Euro 2016 championships, bringing live action of all of the best national teams in Europe to Kenyan subscribers.

“It seems 2015 is set to be a great year for StarTimes and our subscribers who are progressively looking out for premium sporting action,”

For Kenyan fans wishing to keep in touch with the world’s greatest off-road events, StarTimes subscribers will be able to enjoy an hour of live broadcasting from each stage of every rally, including the final “Power Stage”, a range of highlights programming which include a magazine, daily highlights, event highlights mid and end season reviews.

“East Africa is the home of African motor rallying, we are therefore excited that we are finally able to bring the world’s greatest event back to Kenyan viewers and there’s plenty to come!” concluded Lisboa.