About Fufa TV and domestic football

You will know there is a deep problem in the family when the patriarch demands that all members of the household should part with a fraction of the fuel cost in order to board the family car. That is the exact scenario in Ugandan football after a declaration by Moses Magogo that Fufa had secured an operational hybrid broadcast license from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).

Magogo explained that the new Fufa Media Services (FMS) was created for purposes of complying with the regulatory requirements of UCC. He went on to put it on record that whereas FMS is owned 100 per cent by Fufa, it will be run as a separate entity from Fufa. He sidestepped the clear conflict of interest by suggesting that FMS will weed away middlemen when it comes to broadcast rights, commercial rights and match-day rights.

For the uninitiated, this sounds like pure gold but it is until you unpack the whole deal that you see the devil in the detail.

Firstly, Fufa is the regulator or father in this case and its role is squarely to create level-playing for its subordinates.  By seeking to create a television platform to air domestic league matches, it is usurping the role of clubs in investing into the game to get broadcast rights.

What this means is that Fufa will be the regulator, determinant and executor of broadcast rights on behalf of all clubs in Ugandan football.

By doing so, clubs will be at Fufa’s mercy to determine if their matches are worth broadcasting or even mentioning. This is against the spirit of the game. World over, national and continental federations as well as Fifa don’t engage in the business of television rights where clubs are involved.

Have you ever wondered why Fifa, Uefa and Caf, in spite of their financial muscle, don’t own televisions, it is out of respect for the clubs that invest to create the broadcast platform. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United have club TVs because it is their mandate to do so by virtue of investing millions of dollars to develop the brand.

Put simply, clubs are the real broadcast rights owners of domestic football and by creating Fufa’s own television; it means Fufa is going to usurp the rights of clubs.

Therefore, Fufa is trying to position itself as the brain for the clubs to develop their professional and commercial capacity through investing nothing for the clubs but everything for the federation.

And, this goes deeper because it demoralizes football investors with goals of building club brands because the most important aspect is controlled by the regulator. If Fufa really wanted to develop domestic football, it would have advocated for a Uganda Premier League TV (UPL TV) but it wants to manage the financial aspect of everything, this is greed beyond comprehension.

Just spare a thought; who will take proceeds from Fufa TV? It is just a handful of individuals at the federation at the expense of the clubs!

This is wrong! A regulator cannot engage in the core business of the members it regulates. It is like URA also engaging in importation of goods to rival taxpayers.

So, this is to enlighten UPL members that they are being given a rope to hang them by ceding the club rights to the glowing Fufa TV prospective.

The earlier stakeholders are woke, the better.

Mr Immanuel Ben Misagga is a businessman.