Court to decide on Sulom TV rights
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has said a court decision will determine the relevance of its three-year contract with Beta TV.
Sulom and Beta entered into an agreement in July 2016 for the live beaming of TNM Super League games.
The agreement will expire at the end of the 2018 season.
Beta acquired the broadcasting rights at K266 million per season after outbidding Times Group and Matindi television stations.
However, all has not been rosy since that time as only a few games have been beamed.
Beta then went on to suspend the live broadcasts mid-way through the 2016 season.
Beta TV Station Manager, Theunis Bester, blamed financial hiccups for the failure to honour the contractual agreement.
The station also failed to pay the first chunk of K133 million worth of exclusive television rights to Sulom by the end of September 2016 as per agreement.
Out of the amount, K44 million was supposed to be disbursed to the top flight clubs but the money is yet to be remitted.
Despite promising that they would come back after rectifying the problem, Beta has been off air for almost a year, raising questions on the relevance of the station’s holding of the broadcast rights.
Following the development, the Super League governing body took the station to court, accusing it of breach of contract.
Asked on the next course of action, Sulom General Secretary, Williams Banda, said the body’s legal advisors are still handling the matter.
He was however not sure if the matter would be resolved before the start of the next season.
“The matter is still in court. You know what happens when an issue is in court. So, after everything, we shall come out in the open and state our next course of action. For now, there is nothing we can do about it,” Banda said.
Both Sulom and Beta have been under pressure from clubs for the failure to pay money realised from the live television broadcasts.
Silver Strikers General Secretary, Thabo Nyirenda, said the best way is to wait for the court’s final decision but wondered why Sulom allowed the matter to go out of hand in the first place.
“If Beta failed to issue part payment, why should we believe that all the money will be paid? The agreement should have been terminated much earlier. It has not benefitted us in any way,” Nyirenda said.
Proceeds from television broadcasts are a major source of revenue for teams in most developed countries.
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