By Gilbert Wandera

The sudden closure of pay satellite television service provider, GTV, will have far-reaching financial consequences in the region.

The firm had committed slightly more than Sh1 billion to support various leagues and competitions in the region and their fate now hangs in the balance.

Hard hit will be the Tanzania and Uganda leagues which had just signed multi-million four-year deals with the pay television channel.

The Federation of Uganda Football Association (Fufa) had a four-year Sh390 million contract with GTV to support its top club competition — the Super League.

The deal signed last year had ignited a lot of hope and interest in the competition what with the massive cash injection and the opportunity to be broadcast live matches across the African continent.

Most Ugandan clubs, boosted by the new cash, had given their players attractive contracts to motivate their performance but with the new development, this has now gone down the drain.

The Tanzanian league was another beneficiary of GTV support with a lucrative Sh468million four-year deal.

Greener pastures

The effects of the sponsorship were already being felt as a good number of Kenyan players had shifted to Tanzania in search of greener pastures. Clubs featuring in the Tanzania league pay some of the best players’ salaries in the region.

The giant Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) will also be left stranded with the loss of their Sh312million sponsorship package for the regional Senior Challenge Cup tournament.

The four-year deal was signed last year. Under the agreement, GTV was to spend Sh78million every year to airlift teams and various officials to tournament venues, pay prize money and broadcast some of the matches live.

The current deal has only covered two editions. The first one was in Tanzania in 2007 and last year’s hosted by Uganda. Kenya is supposed to host this year’s event.

A new sponsor

With GTV gone, Cecafa has to go back to the drawing board and source for a new sponsor to come in and pick the bill.

The very future of the regional tournament could be at stake considering that GTV were the first major serious corporate sponsors to undertake the event.

Previously, the tournament was sponsored by individuals the most notable of them being Ethiopian businessman, Hussein Al Amoudi.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has also lent his support to the tournament in the past. Kagame still sponsors regional club championships organised by Cecafa.

In West Africa, the Ghanian league has also been left without massive cash following the sudden withdrawal by GTV.

The pay television company had already paid out at least Sh2.1million to each of the 16 clubs taking part in the Ghana league to help them prepare for the season.

The Kenyan league was spared what could have been a massive loss when they declined GTV’s deal two years ago.

Representatives from Kenya Premier League (KPL) and GTV failed to agree after months of negotiations. SuperSport finally came on board with an exciting Sh400million four-year offer that the KPL could not resist.