COLLAPSE OF GBS (GTV) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICAN LEAGUE FOOTBALL

COLLAPSE OF GTV

Last week, GTV announced it would no longer broadcast to its 100 000-odd subscribers. It closed its doors after a two-year campaign to wrestle as much of the African pay-TV market away from the domination of South African-owned MultiChoice.

GTV is an outgrowth of Gateway Communications, the Pan-African telecommunications company that is also London registered. The two entities separated legally two years ago and Gateway Communications' telecommunications business was bought by mobile network operator Vodacom late last year.
GTV subscriber base was in Botswana, Kenya, Cameroon, Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
MultiChoice, which has a total of about 1.4 million subscribers across the continent, is still to issue a statement about GTV's liquidation.
However, MultiChoice executives are privately not happy about the situation.
“There is a danger that we end up looking like the bad guys because many think we can just capitalise on the situation. This is not true – GTV built up expectations and now dashed them, and we are the company that is expected to pick up the pieces, even though we had nothing to do with them,” says one MultiChoice executive.
GTV under the broadcast name GBS initiated a massive shake-up in the pay-tv industry in Africa with an aggressive and positive image strategy. Their offerings, while extolling their own good virtues were simultaneously taking swipes at Multichoice who had a monopoly over the industry in most African countries.
Using the magnet of premiership football they gambled hugely and pay huge sums to acquire the premiership right for Africa. The football crazy part of the population rushed for their bouquets and abandoned their DSTV. Within weeks GBS was up and flying in Africa and in Ghana their subscriber base swelled instantaneously. As a business model it was too good to be true. And to add to the excitement many subscribers discovered that GBS was much cheaper than their DSTV subscriptions.
Many DSTV subscribers berated them for leaving them out of the action and excitement of the premiership.
GBS adopted a woo-strategy that was to convince the football authorities across Africa that it was not just in to take money out of the football fans but also to invest in football both locally.
GBS signed agreements with local leagues in Uganda Tanzania, Ghana and Zimbabwe to become broadcast sponsors for these leagues. These contracts were so lucrative that they were unprecedented in the history of professional football in Africa outside North Africa and South Africa. Huge sums of money were pumped into these sponsorship deals , allowing the clubs to plan and invest for the first time in some of these countries. This sponsorship money has revived some of the beneficiary leagues turning them into competitive leagues with even some of them staring to poach players from neighboring countries. This is especially true of Tanzania where the sponsorship deal has revived the league and even boosted the performance of the national team.
In Uganda GTV was to invest over US$5m in Ugandan football for five years, according to their contract with the local soccer body. This would support the development of the game at all levels.
In Ghana GTV invested $1m in the first year of their 3 year contract with the Ghanaian league and had started paying up another $1m for the second year before they collapsed. During their association with the Ghanaian league, television coverage (even though it was largely restricted) became far better, one aspect that had been missing from the local game. The TV production became much more professional and in effect sold the game beyond our borders.
Many local players boosted by better wages and organization were prepare to give our local leaguer a shot instead of the mad rush to seek contracts in the likes of Vietnam and Malaysia. What is refreshing is the many African leagues are becoming more professional with each passing year and with the right partners and more will be achieved. Many of the continent’s clubs arte not so dependent on sponsorship money, and I am sure they will survive this as they have done in many perilous years of pursuing excellence in the game they love most
THE COLLAPSE OF GBS WILL HURT BUT IT Is REFRESHING TO KNOW THAT IT WILL NOT KILL OUR LEAUGES IN AFRICA.