Frederick Acheampong, an Executive Council Member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), has disclosed that the association chose not to renew its broadcast rights deal with StarTimes due to the company’s outstanding debt of nearly one million dollars.
The contract between the GFA and StarTimes expired at the end of the previous football season, and no new agreement was reached to extend the partnership.
As a result, the GFA opted to award the broadcast rights to several free-to-air television stations for the upcoming season.
Speaking in an interview with Kessben TV, Acheampong explained that the GFA had to find alternative sources of funding to ensure that clubs received their payments before the start of the new season, as the money owed by StarTimes was originally earmarked for this purpose.
"StarTimes owes the Ghana Football Association close to $1 million. The GFA had to source funds from different avenues to settle the clubs with the money they were supposed to receive from StarTimes. This is why we could not continue with StarTimes,” Acheampong clarified.
Following the shift to free-to-air broadcasters, the quality of the matchday one broadcast has been heavily criticized by fans and stakeholders, with many expressing disappointment over the poor coverage. Despite these criticisms, the GFA remains committed to its decision to move away from StarTimes.
