Entertainment channel Silverbird TV has agreed a sub-licence deal with Integral, the free-to-air rights holder for the English Premier League in Nigeria, to broadcast live matches from the 2020/21 season.
Silverbird will air one of the 3pm fixtures each Saturday on its free-to-air channel and will also show a handful of Premier League-produced magazine programmes weekly. The channel can be viewed terrestrially on StarTimes Channel 109 and UHF 23.
Abimbola Ilo, MD of Integral, said: “We are once again pleased to be bringing the excitement of the English Premier League closer to its fans in Nigeria. Silverbird is an entertaining television station watched by millions of Nigerians and it’s only right that the most entertaining football league in the world is added to its roster. With the Premier League’s popularity in Nigeria, this is yet another opportunity for its passionate fans to get exciting up-to-date content on free-to-air TV.”
Bola Salako, the chief operating officer of Silverbird Communications, added: “We at Silverbird are excited at the opportunity to avail our numerous viewers across Nigeria with select premium football matches from the most exciting league in the world: the English Premier League. Silverbird TV is primarily a family entertainment-oriented channel and it is quintessential for us to ensure that our viewers get the best of every appropriate programming genre.
“Sports is a major part of our content offering, and football in particular, as the acclaimed ‘king of sports’ holds particular appeal to a large section of our target demographic. And with the new Premier League season on the horizon we are looking forward to team up with Integral on this exciting new project of bringing premium sporting content to mass numbers of Nigerian viewers.”
Integral, which secured its rights in a sub-license deal from the Infront Sports & Media agency, the substantive rights holder for FTA distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa, currently has a similar deal with national broadcaster NTA.
tagged in: Abimbola Ilo, Bola Salako, Integral, Silverbird TV