LC2 Media, the licensed broadcaster of the latest edition of Africa’s largest sporting event, AFCON 2013, said its decision to charge the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) $11 million for broadcasting rights in the country was based on contract agreement with the organizing body of the tournament “to ensure a better visibility for African football.”
With just 3days to the kickoff of the tournament, Nigeria which has the largest population in Africa and is one of the major drivers of Africa’s sport economy, is yet to seal a deal for viewership rights.
The Director General of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON), Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, said a few days back on a local TV station that the $11 million charge for the AFCON 2013 broadcasting rights was exorbitant, considering the tournament was already backed by a major deal from multinational telecom giant Orange.
“Nigerian broadcasters have refused to pay the 8 million-Euro media rights charged by a French company for Nigerian media to air the matches of the forth coming African Nations Cup matches on terrestrial TV stations,” Jijiwa said.
LC2 has said in an official statement that its “actions are concerned with the protection and promotion of sport economy in Africa, both for the present and the future.”
It added that “any assumptions made by BON and relayed in the Nigerian media disregard the virtuous circle of sport economy, especially concerning the advertising market.”
At the time of this report, LC2 Medias pledged to find a “solution” regarding the controversy, on the condition that the interest of all concerned parties, including Nigerian viewers, were respected.
LC2 is an African media group which carries out international activity through various structures both in and outside Africa. In 2003 and 2008, it won bids to manage and sell Television and Radio broadcasting rights of several football competitions organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), including the AFCON South Africa 2013, which will take place from January 19 to February 10, 2013.
