Star Times to meet UBC officials over world cup

Jun 23, 2014

Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) and Star Times digital television are to meet to forge a way forward in the ongoing row over airing of world cup matches.

By Chris Kiwawulo
 
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) and Star Times digital television are to meet to forge a way forward in the ongoing row over airing of world cup matches.

 
Star Times’ spokesperson Christine Nagujja told New Vision on Monday afternoon that; “we are going to meet with UBC and see how we can resolve this issue because we need to have a cordial working relationship with UBC especially as we move towards digital migration.”
 
Nagujja, however, noted that they had not received any further communication from UBC or Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) halting the airing of world cup games.
 
UBC and UCC wrote to Star Times instructing them to stop hosting UBC on their platform during world cup matches.
 
The row over broadcast rights leaves Star Times’ 180,000 subscribers countrywide at the risk of missing world cup matches after UBC instructed Star Times to block the airing of the matches.
 
UBC managing director Paul Kihika argued that they acquired rights to broadcast the matches in Uganda only on the free-to-air platform, and not on a pay television platform.
 
President Yoweri Museveni paid $600,000 (sh1.5b) for broadcast rights of the Brazil 2014 World Cup on UBC from the African Union of Broadcasting/Federation of International Football Associations (AUB/FIFA).
 
Star Times is a pay television which uses a decoder to pick UBC signals on its platform, thereby enabling its subscribers to view world cup matches live. Most Star Times subscribers stay in areas where the UBC signal is poor or where they cannot get it at all.
 
UCC executive director Godfrey Mutabazi on June 16, 2014, also wrote to Star Times informing them that they did not have rights to broadcast the world cup.
 
UBC and Star Times signed a sh200m six-month deal in which UBC agreed to advertise several Star Times products during the World Cup, but UBC has since removed all Star Times adverts during world cup. The contract starts on March 15 and ends on September 14, 2014.
 
Kihika said they removed the Star Times logo after FIFA complained, adding that the contract was not valid because it was not within the confines of international law.
 
Media reports in Kenya indicate that the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has also dragged pay television companies including Star Times to court and secured an interim order against them airing world cup matches. 

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