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Business of TV Sport
Sportel Monaco 2011

HiTV fights back with Premier League sublicensing bid

Nigerian pay-television broadcaster HiTV has offered to buy half the rights for the English Premier League in Nigeria from its rival DStv, owner of the Supersport premium sport channels. DStv acquired the rights two weeks ago after HiTV, the winner of the initial auction, failed to produce bank guarantees covering the fee in time.
HiTV’s chief executive Toyin Subair has come out fighting this week, saying he is confident the business can continue and unveiling new plans and subscriber targets. Subair said live sports would remain a key component of HiTV’s business model, but said that the company was not “all about the English Premier League”. HiTV still has the rights for the Uefa Champions League, Europa League, English football’s Carling Cup and agreed a deal for Serie A rights last week. HiTV also recently launched a new music channel, and Subair said it would be investing in new film content.

The broadcaster has slashed the monthly subscription fee for its top-priced channel package to Naira3,500 ($23.33/€17.68), from N6,000, although it said that the reduction was not related to the Premier League loss. HiTV is aiming for 500,000 subscribers by the end of the year – up from around 300,000 at present.