Brila FM Acquires La Liga Broadcast Rights for Nigeria Territory.

Nigeria's Sports Radio 88.9 Brila FM has acquired the exclusive right to broadcast the Spanish La Liga and Copa Del Rey in addition to the English Premier League.

Speaking at the unveiling of the package in Lagos Tuesday, the Chairman/CEO of Brila FM, Dr Larry Izamoje, confirmed that only his station has the right to broadcast the La Liga live on radio in the country.

"We believe that to be the best, we must relate with the best. As broadcasters, we should bring our listeners the best. Neymar, Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and if things work out, Gareth Bale... name them, the biggest names are in... or heading to Spain. Don't also forget that Spain is the defending World Cup winning side. The La Liga is the biggest thing on the horizon right now," observed Izamoje Tuesday.

The Brila FM boss further expressed his excitement over the new deal which is an improvement over the radio station's only broadcast of Barcelona's home games in the last UEFA Champions League.

"We have improved on that and are very pleased that in the 83 years after La Liga started, the Spanish football authorities are for the first time putting the league and their cup tournament (Copa Del Rey) on radio in Africa. As it was in 2002 when we pioneered sports radio in Africa, we have the exclusive commercial radio rights for both the La Liga and Copa Del Rey for the Nigerian territory. So beginning from August 17 and every match day, these two competitions will be live on Sports Radio 88.9 Brila FM," stressed Izamoje with excitement.

He also revealed that Brila FM will strive to ensure that the quality of its broadcast of the EPL acquired from UK's TalkSports, the world's biggest sports radio, remains the benchmark for football broadcasting in the country.

"We have entered our second year of partnership with English soccer global audio right owners, UTV Media/TalkSports for the exclusive commercial rights in Nigeria for the Barclays Premier League, the English FA Cup and the English Capital One Cup competitions," Izamoje noted.

The Brila FM chairman however warned that any attempt by any other radio station to broadcast these competitions illegally will be met with litigation.

"For the avoidance of doubts, we have documents from the English FA proving that only Talksports (for all matches) and the BBC (for only a limited number of matches on its World Service) can do commentaries of matches for their partner radio stations in Nigeria. FAPL states that no other organization and indeed, no radio station, has the right to do its own version of commentaries in English in Nigeria.

"We have taken the matter to the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and anyone who infringe on this rights will face the music," warned the Brila CEO.

To drive home his determination to avoid any breach, Izamoje has already set in motion, arrangements with the law firms of Festus Keyamo and Charles Mekwunye to represent Brila FM in any situation of infringement.

Three former Super Eagles players namely, Victor Nosa Ikpeba, Mutiu Adepoju and Peter Rufai were at the event and spoke glowingly of Brila FM's drive to help position football in the country.

Source Thisday online