The Cranes... Live!
The game, which was won by the Cranes, Uganda's national team, by 3:1 against Niger's, was broadcast live on GTV on Saturday, September 8.
Henry Egesa, an ardent soccer fan, said the quality of the transmission and production of the games was not very impressive considering the publicity it was given. “I expected GTV to do a better job than Uganda Television [now Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC)] which used to give us poor-quality pictures,” Egesa said at the end of the game.
The game was shot by some cameras from one side of the stadium limiting the viewers from seeing some faces of the figures on the pitch. For instance, if any of the two coaches was upset by the performance of his team, there was no camera to show the expression from the opposite end concurrently. One could only see the back and side views of the coaches or wait until when the coach turned to the camera. The sound was also low and people could hardly hear the high-tuned match commentator.
Archie Luyimbazi a producer and director at Great Lakes Media, a local television production house however said the broadcast was good enough for the moment although it did not achieve the standards of the English broadcasts that viewers expected. “The production of the games was good for the start and it set a good precedence for future coverage of the games. I believe in future the coverage will be much better,” he said.
He also said the GTV needs to improve on the camera movement, focusing and acquire cameras that are meant for sports. “This will help GTV to relay high-standard quality images of the games,” Luyimbazi said.
Another fan complained of missing the penalty that earned the Cranes its first goal. “Why aren't these guys are not showing the replay of the penalty, I didn't see it,” he shouted.
The goal was repeated later in the game while the rest were replayed, but only once. During the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga games, football fans get to see the goal scoring footage more than twice a few seconds after. The GTV replays were also blur and not as clear as the live transmission.
He said new broadcaster ought to have invested more in the production of the service since they seem to be more organized than UBC. “But what they did for us was fine. We hope they can learn from their mistakes so that they offer us a better service next time,” the Cranes' supporter said.
GTV's general manager Daniel Kagwe and marketing manager Peter Mungoma could not be reached for a comment on Monday.
GTV got the exclusive rights to broadcast the Uganda's football games following a landmark deal between Gateway Television Broadcasting and the Federation of Uganda Football Association the body that governs Ugandan football, in Kampala in July 2007.
The deal gave GTV exclusive media and commercial rights to all FUFA-organized games including the National Super League, the Kakungulu Cup and exclusive rights to show the games live.
The deal did not however favour majority of Ugandans who cannot afford GTV which costs about $200 (UGshs350,000). They were used watching the games free from the national broadcaster UBC. Most of the fans had to tune in to local FM stations to be updated on the performance of the Cranes.
The new TV service launched its service in Uganda this year with a declaration of 80% exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League - which pundits say is Africa's most watched foreign game. It also has presence in Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.
