Football Association of Zambia president Andrew Kamanga says they will review the partnership with SuperSport once the contract ends at the end of the season and possibly explore other options.
Kamanga says SuperSport has partly responded to fans’ cries since introducing AI cameras and promised to restore the broadcast quality to the pre-AI era.
The FAZ chief said has repeatedly engaged SuperSport to address the concerns raised by fans over the quality of the broadcast since switching to AI. He said that with the contract winding up at the season’s close, FAZ is already looking ahead to bringing closure to the outpouring cries by fans.
“To just clarify this issue of the live broadcast. As FAZ, we do have a broadcast partnership with SuperSport. It’s been there for many years, and even the current contract is up for renewal at the end of this season,” he said.
Kamanga said FAZ was aware of the structural challenges the parent company under which SuperSport fell was going through.
“Immediately, we noticed that the transmission quality had been compromised, and even the on-field analysis was not there, so we raised the issue with SuperSport. They returned and indicated that they were undergoing institutional changes as a company; certain things were changing.
“But of course, as partners, we do have an existing commercial agreement that provided for how this partnership would work and anything outside that is deemed to be a breach on the part that is not fulfilling their obligation,” he said.
“So we have been going back and forth, and indeed, SuperSport has taken the issue, and they have assured us that they will fix whatever challenges we have. If you have noticed, from the time the camera (AI) was deployed, the quality has significantly improved. Still, of course, it’s not giving us certain elements like the replay and all those aspects, so these are matters which we have been informed that will be addressed.”
