“Sports TV has officially obtained its final broadcasting license from Uganda Communications Commission, to fully commence broadcasting its sports programmes on UHF Channel 43,” Kigozi told Bizcommunity on Thursday.
Sports TV is Uganda's only local free-to-air television station broadcasting international sports 24-hours a day, including local games on its programme line-up.
Kigozi said, “The station will also become the first station to broadcast live, broadcasting the Scottish Premier League free-of-charge, giving Ugandans a chance to see David Obua and Lazslo Csaba in action.” Obua is Uganda's top ranking football stat who has just earned himself a spot with Hearts Football Club in Scotland while Csaba is Uganda's former coach who left for the same Scottish outfit, in July.
Prior to the entry of Sports TV Africa, South African based pay-TV station Multichoice Uganda, and London-based GTV have been the only sources of 24-hour sports broadcasting with little focus on local sports. However, with the entry of GTV (Gateway Television), local sports broadcasting has been given a major facelift and Sports TV Africa is expected to take it to greater heights.
Like GTV, Kigozi said Sports TV aims at promoting Ugandan sport - and Ugandan sports personalities, including the lesser known sports. “We want to have something unique, clean, entertaining, fun and of course bring the Ugandan families together,” she added.
The licensing of Sports TV, under the Sentanta Africa Sport Network brand, brings the number of licensed and operational television stations in Uganda to 27. A total of 44 TV stations have been assigned frequencies, 27 of which are on-air, according to the UCC. Some of the popular free-to-air television stations include; Wavah Broadcasting Station, Nation, Record, Top, Lighthouse and East Africa TV, as well as Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, and National Broadcasting Station.
The station has been testing its signal since July this year following their establishment in Uganda. The channel is currently broadcasting beyond capital Kampala, with a presence in Entebbe, Jinja and Masaka, over 40km, out of town. “Country-wide coverage for the whole of Uganda is being pursued, in stages, as we move forward,” Kigozi said.
The stations was set up with the growing number of millions of sports fans in Uganda, in mind. “We considered this as a fantastic opportunity to provide good top quality sport programming that is available to all Ugandan viewers free of charge. TV is becoming a much more popular past time entertainment for more and more families and with the improving economic growth in Uganda we see more and more people buying TV Sets,” Kigozi said.
