World Cup right’s holder hosts workshop

Holder of the broadcast right for South Africa 2010 World Cup in Nigeria, the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) and Optima Sports Management International (OSMI) are organising a two-day workshop for member broadcast stations at the Protea Hotel in Maryland, Lagos from February 9 to 10, 2010.

The workshop is being organised to ensure full proof joint transmission and broadcast compliance for the World Cup.

The production workshop, the first in the series, is put together to afford member broadcasting stations opportunities to discuss FIFA’s broadcast compliance and transmission guidelines for the pan-African broadcast project; the selection of production crew and presenters; production studio time and FIFA World Cup promos, among others.

Speaking on the importance of the workshop, the Broadcasting Organisation’s Chairman, Abubakar Jijiwa, stated that such a forum is necessary to ensure successful transmission of the 2010 World Cup.

“We are bringing together the technical crew and our seasoned Sports Editors from member broadcast stations to make adequate preparations for a successful joint transmission and also use the platform to prepare the accreditation list and select our production crew that will operate both in South Africa and in Nigeria,” he said.

Free rights

Jijiwa also described the free-to-air rights awarded to the consortium as a ground breaking deal which integrates and unite Nigerian broadcasters under the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria for one goal, which is to have the best coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa.

Also commenting on the necessity of the workshop, the Managing Director of Optimal Sports International,

Rotimi Pedro disclosed that the workshop will allow the 25 committed broadcast partners participating in the workshop have access to best practices in the world of sports broadcast techniques and compliance with laid down FIFA guidelines to ensure high-quality football television productions and enhance FIFA’s brand values.

After the successful coverage of the Germany 2006 World Cup offered by BON/OSMI, FIFA has again selected the consortium as the partners for this year’s World Cup, the first to be hosted in Africa, based on their capacity to reach the largest possible audience as well as their commitment to support FIFA’s institutional campaigns.

OSMI has successfully managed television rights in Nigeria for FIFA-organised events since 2003.