Econet owned Media’s TV channel Kwesé Free Sports has partnered with Liquid Telecom Kenya to launch live broadcasting of Kenya’s motorsports rallies. The launch is a first for Kenya and for Africa in opening the country’s rising rally sports industry to national TV audiences across the continent.
Launched in Kenya in August this year, Kwesé Free Sports offers sports coverage for free on any set-top decoder or digital TV.
Under this new partnership, Liquid Telecom Kenya will also stream live the rally on its own YouTube channel. The company developed the streaming capacity as part of its rally driver sponsorships program, and launched rally live streaming onto its YouTube platform in July 2016.
In April 2015, Liquid Telecom Kenya launched its sponsorship of rally driver Ian Duncan with the declared intent of permanently elevating the sport in Kenya through the deployment of new technology.
“This has since seen us roll out state-of-the-art timing equipment, create live streaming of the rallies, and now conclude this new partnership with Kwesé Free Sports that will mean Kenya’s rally sports events reach a mass audience.” said Mr. Paul Statham, Chief Operating Officer of Liquid Telecom Kenya.
Commenting on the partnership, Monicah Ndung’u, General Manager Kwesé Free Sports TV said they were excited to be bringing the rally coverage live to fans in Kenya. “With the vast array of international sports content already secured by Kwesé, we want to ensure that we create opportunities for the best in local sports content on our channel,” she said.
The broadcasting of the Kenyan rallies follows an 18-month development project by Liquid Telecom Kenya, which has seen the Internet Service Provider invest in high-speed, mobile Internet connections and filming equipment, aerially and inside rally cars, in order to raise the sport’s profile.
The launch of its Kenyan motorsports coverage by Kwesé Free Sports, on the other hand, marks the channel’s first new African sports content. The channel also holds exclusive free-to-air rights for the Premier League, the National Basketball Association (NBA), Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) and the National Football League (NFL), and is now airing in Rwanda and Malawi, and available in Ethiopia, Senegal, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, Congo DRC, Benin, Togo, Uganda, Ghana, Angola and Tanzania through affiliate channels.
“Our mission was to align this sponsorship with Liquid Telecom’s overarching vision of achieving permanent transformation in every aspect of African life through the innovative deployment of Internet infrastructure and services,” Statham said.
The broadcast is due to be aired on November 6th from the KCB Rally at Kajiado
