Nigerians, Ethiopians and Zambians unlikely to watch Africa Cup of Nations

Media company LC2, the broadcasting rights owner of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2013, has said it maintains its stand on the charge for media rights “in the interest of African football, and for the AFCON 2013,” leaving some major African countries still unable to watch the tournament on their national terrestrial TV or on other African televisions broadcasting on satellite by illegal overflowing.

Cape Verde, Gambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia and Mozambique have all been affected by LC2’s decision on the appropriate media rights charge, according to Ventures Africa, and their broadcasting organisations have said they cannot afford the fees as they are “too expensive”.

LC2 said in an official statement: “LC2 – AFNEX has been working to develop and implement a different approach to managing and marketing CAF broadcasting rights it is licenced for since 2003. This means, for instance, adapting licence fees to individual country profile and working over time with national televisions to find adequate financing for licence purchase and to capitalise on the marketing opportunity.

It is obvious that with such an economic model, African Football becomes a creator of wealth for television and advertisers by bringing them closer to supporters (viewers) and populations (customers).”

The company urged televisions of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia and Mozambique to subscribe the new “income-generator mechanism… for the sake of football, media and African supporters.”

According to Ethiopian Television (Etv), LC2 wants 18 million Birr (close to $1 million).