StarTimes’ press briefing on production plan for the new Ghana premier league season
StarTimes’ vision is to ensure that every African family can access, afford, watch and share the beauty of digital TV.
For a long time in Ghana, Pay TV services were out of reach for majority of households until the entry of StarTimes into the market 3 years ago. We have changed the view of Ghanaians with affordable Pay TV services across the country with subscription fees as low as GHC 20 per month.
With over 30million users in 30 countries, StarTimes has become Africa’s leading Pay Tv service provider with premium sports content such as the English FA Cup, Europa League, Bundesliga, French Ligue 1, Coppa Italia, Spanish Copa Del Rey and the Ghana Premier League.
StarTimes signed a 10-year contract as the official media broadcaster of the Ghana Football Association in 2016.
With this strategic partnership agreement, StarTimes acquired all media rights of Ghana Football properties for 10 years.
This partnership was not only to bring the game to the homes of Ghanaian football lovers but also to take the Ghanaian game to the rest of Africa.
During the 2016/2017 season, StarTimes covered 49 live games across the league, FA Cup, President’s Cup, G8 and the Gala competitions.
Broadcast of games produced for television was not limited to our platform, selected matches were made available for live broadcast to more than 10 free-to-air partner stations in Ghana simultaneously.
Over 100 radio stations were also given the rights to run commentary. This was an innovative strategy introduced by StarTimes to give a wider reach and also increase the commercial clout of the GPL to swell its value on TV.
On assumption of our role as the official broadcaster for the GPL, we relied on a third party to produce match day games for television but grew from this state to owning a fully equipped high definition OB Van that enabled us to produce and transmit live matches in HD by the 2017/2018 season.
By the half season of the 2017/2018 league season right before Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Number 12 documentary, StarTimes had produced 47 live games in HD for TV across all competitions making way for some matches to be played under flood lights and giving Ghanaians more live games per weekend on TV and radio. Total matches produced for the season would have been 94 but for the truncation.
StarTimes also invested hugely in the promotion of Ghana Football which involved value additions that would optimize the potential of the league. A marketing kit for the Ghana Premier league consisting of a new Logo, Slogan, visual creatives and a photoshoot for all 16 premier league clubs were done at our own cost to aid in player identification and for other promotional campaigns.
Our efforts attracted some lucrative sponsorship deals from corporate bodies for the various clubs and eventually paved way for a title sponsorship deal for the Ghana Premier League. BETWAY, ADONKO BITTERS, ZYLOFON CASH, SOCCERBET, HAPPYMAN BITTERS were some of the brands that sponsored the clubs.
In our commitment to grow the Ghanaian game, StarTimes launched the HD Adepa TV channel, a dedicated channel which was to get up close and personal with players and the game.
StarTimes has invested over 2 million US dollars in Ghana Football with hardly any tangible returns so far. Despite all our investments as a company, our goals and targets were not met to ensure a smooth running of our business. We have suffered huge losses as expected revenue from advertisers who had pledged to spend on our platform could not be realised and the investments made into the game could not be recouped due to the abrupt truncation of the league.
DEVELOPING JUVENILE FOOTBALL
- StarTimes together with DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga introduced the Bundesliga Football School to Ghana last December. The football school is a new partnership model for promoting young talent.
- The approach is to work with the Ghana Football Association and its professional clubs as well as Football Academies in Ghana to enhance footballing skills for talented young soccer players at the local level.
- Ghanaian coaches such as Medeama’s Samuel Boadu and 6 others also benefited from the Bundesliga’s know-how to professionalize and enhance their existing local structures.
STARTIMES/BUNDESLIGA EXPERIENCE FOR SPORTS JOURNALIST
StarTimes has since 2016 sponsored 11 journalists to experience the German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1.
The experience which is dubbed the StarTimes Media Visit has seen the under listed journalists make an all expense paid trip to Germany (Bundesliga) and France (Ligue 1) for exclusive interviews, stadium experience and workshops on media reportage for these leagues.
- Maurice Quansah – Graphic Communications Limited
- Saddick Adams – Angel Broadcasting Network
- Otuo Acheampong Barima Boadaa – Oyerepa FM
- Daniel Kwaku Yeboah – Peace FM/ UTV
- George Addo Jnr. – Multimedia
- Michael Oti Adjei – Media General (TV3)
- Tophic Abdul-Kadir – FootballMadeInGhana.com
- Henry Asante Twum – Star FM
- Gary Al-Smith – Multimedia
- Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang – Class Media Group
- Sena Akoto-Ampaw – GFA
OUR COMMITMENT TO GHANA FOOTBALL
A Super Two clash was held between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko to satisfy the hunger of fans for football after the GPL was truncated.
Partnership agreements were signed with Kotoko to produce their home games of the CAF Confederation Cup and other preparatory games.
We went on to produce the J.A Kuffour Cup organized by Primeval Consult to honour the former president.
We also strived to ensure that players didn’t go rusty without active football while clubs suffer various setbacks hence held discussions with GHALCA to organize the StarTimes Cup which was later called off by the GFA Normalization committee.
The NC went on to introduce a Special Competition, StarTimes again came on board to offer a sponsorship package to show our love and commitment for Ghana football but that also stalled.
OUR VALUE ADDITIONS
- WIDER REACH FOR THE GPL
- INCREASE IN COMMERCIAL CLOUT OF THE GPL
- LOGO
- SLOGAN – OUR GAME…….. OUR PASSION!!
- CLUB/PLAYER PROFILING
- PRODUCTION OF MORE GAMES FOR TV
On the 8th of January, 2020, StarTimes was awarded the Television Rights for the Ghana Premier League and FA Cup for the next 5 years.
OUR CAPACITY
StarTimes has invested heavily in the latest sports broadcast solutions or software in order to bring the quality of our productions as well as the image of the Ghana Premier League to international standards. This will include:
- Detailed statistics.
- Comprehensive sports analysis.
- Virtual advertising.
- Augmented reality.
- 3D GRAPHICS
- VIRTUAL LIVE PRESENTER
- For your information, StarTimes is the only broadcaster in West Africa that has this software.
VIRTUAL ADVERTISING
Concerning the Virtual advertising software, it is a great advertising tool that the FA can use to promote a title sponsor of the league. It involves the virtual placement of adverts on and around the pitch during the broadcast of a live game.
STATISTICS
We shall provide detailed statistics of the match every 5-10 minutes on:
- Goals scored, assists made, Cards received etc.
- Average possession, total passes, crosses, shoots, fouls, corners etc.
- Final area penetration and ball possession in each third.
- Teams comparison.
- Player data – Goals, assists, passes accuracy, crosses accuracy, dribbles accuracy, balls won, balls lost, Total attempts,
- Half-time and full-time summary.
- Coaches’ data.
Every touch of the ball is collected, stored and analyzed in real-time.
We will have 300 MINUTES OF EXTRA CONTENT WEEKLY
Previews and Reviews of all match day games
- Fan zone programs
- Studio discussions around games
- LOCAL FOOTBALL NEWS
PLAYER IDENTIFICATION
We intend to make the identification of our players paramount. This is key as it helps fans to easily identify with the players of their favourite teams.
We plan to build a full professional photography profile of league clubs and their players. These photographs will be projected on TV, press and online to make player identification easy and also help enhance popularity of the players.
PRODUCTION PLAN
Startimes will provide the biggest and most advanced television production by far with at least 8 cameras for live matches. This will ensure a top quality viewing experience for fans around the world with multiple cameras delivering all the action and emotion of the games.
StarTimes expects an audience of over 30 million viewers across our platforms consisting of 13million Tv subscribers and 18+ million app users.
StarTimes will invest an additional $1,000,000 on production and $500,000 on promotion of the properties.
StarTimes, GFA and PLB shall jointly plan the TV schedule to enable StarTimes produce a minimum of three (3) live matches per match day.
Starting with match day, 38 live games will be produced for the remaining first half of the season and we intend to give all clubs equal TV exposure.
StarTimes shall make one live game available to FTA each match day. Highlights shall be non-exclusive to StarTimes and shall be made available to the media to improve the exposure of the league.
To be able to watch the Ghana Premier League games live in HD, take advantage of our promo and get a full kit package of Decoder, Dish, Cable and LNB for GHC 140.
If you are an existing subscriber, all you need to do is pay GHC 65 for the Super Bouquet and get 15 days extra to enjoy the very best of premium content as the EURO 2020 also beckons on StarTimes.
Credit: Ghana League LIve/@GHLeagues