The advent of digital migration in Kenya opened up the media space to new players, which has seen the number of channels increase dramatically. This has not only given viewers more variety but the increased competition which has seen consumers win with better content now available. One of the areas in which this competition has intensified has been in the Sports provision space. MultiChoice through its SuperSport channels has reigned supreme in this space but recent moves by players such as StarTimes and Azam has seen it cede some of the market share.
Competition is now set to intensify with the entry of Econent Media through the launch of Kwese Free Sports. Kwese launched in early 2016 with the intent of disrupting the African Sports TV market. The firm associated with Billionaire Steve Masiyiwa, also a shareholder in Liquid Telecom has been snapping rights to various popular leagues across the world. “We are armed with over 2,000 hours of free to air sports content, which viewers can now enjoy”, said Monica Ndung’u, Kwese Free Sports General Manager for Kenya.
The content will be available as a channel on a free-to-air set top box, with users also able to access the same content online. “Kwese Free Sports has the exclusive free to air rights to the English Premier League for the Sub-Saharan Africa market, which means viewers can watch one match live every Saturday”, she said. In addition to the EPL, Kwese has also acquired rights to the National Basketball Association (NBA), Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) and most recently the National Football League (NFL).
The company is also engaging local content producers with the goal of producing its own independent content. “We are snapping new content for our channel with a focus on providing Kenyan viewers with a diversity of content”, she added. Kwese Free Sports has signed up two new shows, Xtreme Outdoor Africa and Ball N’Africa which will begin airing soon. Other shows also set to air in the near future include Sports Stars Uncovered, The Secret Lives of Sport, Football Stars, Sports Confidential, The Fast Lane and Sporting Greats on the channel.
Kwese TV will begin broadcasting today on 11th August, so scan your decoder and check the channel out.
