Baboneng takes local sports to television
Baboneng Film Production is aiming to revolutionise the local sporting landscape by giving local sporting codes much needed exposure on television.
This follows the locally brewed production’s recent revolutionary partnership with the Botswana Football Association to broadcast the Debswana National First Division. The ambitious television production company has also signed the rights to numerous sporting codes in a partnership that will see new revenue streams for local sports activities.
In an interview this week, Baboneng Chief Executive Officer Kesebonye Seabelo said they have agreed to exclusive rights with numerous sporting codes including the Botswana Badminton Association (BBA), the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA), the Botswana Wrestling Association and the Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF).
“Our intention is to sign contracts with all sporting associations. We have already started production to document some of the sport codes. We intend to show when these sports codes were started and their grassroots initiatives,” Seabelo said. Seabelo said these sporting activities will be shown on a new channel, The Now TV, which can be viewed via the Set Top box. He further explained that the new TV channel requires content.
“The Now TV will be a 24 our channel featuring sports and entertainment. We have come up with a win-win scenario for us and the sports codes where profit will be split on a 50-50 basis. You cannot find this arrangement in other countries as the TV broadcaster takes most of the profit and the sport codes are left with only 20 percent.” Moreover, Seabelo said they expect to start showing local sports content on television in September this year.
The watershed agreement will see Baboneng broadcasting live games on Maru TV.
Baboneng is expected to start production on the National First Division games next month at the beginning of the new season. Seabelo said they expect positive response from Batswana. If the viewership numbers go up it will mean sponsors will be coming on board.
Baboneng are expected to broadcast Debswana First Division Leagues from both the north and southern region of the country and the partnership is expected to run for five years. The landmark partnership is valued P9,000,000.00 and gives Baboneng both the TV and Radio rights as well as print media and Internet rights and the branding of the stadium during games.