Ghana FA slams GBC 'deliberate misinformation' over losing television rights

Published on: 10 January 2020
Ghana FA slams GBC 'deliberate misinformation' over losing television rights
GFA has slammed GBC's claims as lies

The Ghana FA (GFA) has slammed the 'deliberate misinformation' campaign undertaken by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) claiming the state broadcaster is on mission to deceive the public after it lost the rights to the country's top-flight league.

The GFA rejected the claim by GBC that if offered the "superior financial" offer for the television rights revealing that it craftily inserted the clause of demanding 30% share of all title sponsorships from the league.

The GFA revealed that the net value of the bid of GBC was actually lower than the amount quoted in the bid as it would seek to take a share of any money the GFA gets from any sponsorship deals for the league.

The football governing body revealed that the financial offer of Chinese broadcaster Star Times was the best financial offer since GBC had many hidden clauses that would devalue the financial offer they were making.

The football federation also revealed that GBC presented their final bid three weeks after the deadline had elapsed which resulted in the state broadcaster not getting the rights to the league.

The federation said it does not deserve the deliberate misinformation by GBC even though it is making 'the highlights show non-exclusive for the benefit of all television stations' who lost out after the bidding war.

This comes after Star Times were awarded the rights on Wednesday as their financial offer as well as technical expertise in broadcasting matches in HD quality with modern graphics stood tall.

StarTimes were awarded the broadcasting rights of the Ghana Premier League and FA Cup over a five-year period for US$ 5,250,000 which makes it US$1,050,000 annually.

This prompted GBC to issue a statement to claim that their bid of US$1,100,000 annually which was more than the US$1,050,000 annual offer by the Chinese pay television company.

However, the GFA revealed that apart from the GBC making the offer after the deadline had elapsed for more than three weeks, they also wanted a percentage from any other sponsorships the leagues get which makes the financial offer eventually less.

"The GFA is shocked by the deliberate misinformation in the statement and wishes to respond with the facts," the GFA said in a statement released on Thursday night.

" The deadline for submission of bid was 5 p.m. on Tuesday December 10, 2019. At the end of the bid deadline, GBC had submitted two different bids

"a. The first bid was for Free To Air TV - Exclusive Media Rights, Digital Rights and Radio Rights for the territory of Ghana for 4 years at a proposed fee of GHc8,800,000 (GHc 2,200.000 per season) for all the five GFA Competitions named above.

"The second bid was for Exclusive Media Rights for Ghana and Global for 4 years at a proposed fee of GH 10,200,000 (GH 2,550.000 per season) and a fee of GH 200,000 for radio (GH 50,000 per season) for all the five competitions.

"The GBC bid also had conditions attached to the bid, among them a revenue share on any Title Sponsorship that the GFA secured for its competitions (GBC wanted 20% share).

"On January 2, 2020, GBC emailed a 3rd and 4th bids (note that these were long after the deadline of the bidding period which ended at 5 p.m. on December 10, 2019). The late bid were as follows:

"a. The third bid (out of time) was for Exclusive FTA and Digital Rights for Ghana and Global for four (4) years for a proposed fee of GH 12,000,000 (GH 3,000,000 per season) for all five GFA competitions with condition to have a share in GFA Title Sponsorship (30% for GBC).

"b. The 4th bid (out of time) was for an exclusive television and digital rights for Ghana and Global for 4 years for GH 25,080,000 (GH 6,270,000 per season) for Ghana Premier League and FA Cup with a condition to have a share of Title Sponsorship if the GFA secured one (30% share for GBC).

"8. It must be stated unequivocally that evaluation of bids is not only about the financials but includes all conditions, such as those GBC stated in their proposal, such as the 30% share GBC wanted on all Title Sponsorships."

 

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