Type of site Sport Owner Econet Media Limited | Available in English Website www.kwesesports.com | |
Slogan(s) Sport news, live scores, fixtures and more from Kwesesports.com Alexa rank 114,936 (Global, November 2016) | ||
Kwesé Sports ( /ˈkwɛsɛ/, from [kwese]) is a sport website operated by Econet Media, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless. Kwesé Sports was launched on 4 December 2015 with the announcement made by Econet Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa, on the social networking site Facebook.
Contents
History
Strive Masiyiwa, founder and Group Chairman of Econet Wireless made an announcement on 4 December 2015 through his Facebook page of a new pay TV service named Kwesé TV (yet to be launched) and Kwesé Sports, a website which was live, showing sport news and offering free live streaming of the Copa del Rey football matches in Spain. The name "Kwesé" was derived from the Shona word kwese which means "everywhere" and "anywhere".
Association football
On 17 March 2016, the English Premier League announced that Econet Media acquired free to air broadcasting rights in Sub-Saharan Africa for three seasons, from 2016/17 to 2018/19 season. Econet Media via Kwesé Sports will air the matches, weekly previews and highlights programs. Richard Scudamore, Executive Chairman of the Premier League, said “We are very pleased that Econet Media has chosen to invest in the package of free-to-air broadcasting rights that we have made available in Sub-Saharan Africa."
Basketball
On 21 April 2016, the NBA and Kwesé Sports owner, Econet Media, announced a multi-year partnership deal in which Econet becomes the official broadcaster of the NBA in Sub-Saharan Africa starting with the 2016–17 season. Econet Media will distribute NBA content in English, French and Portuguese across Sub-Saharan Africa on its internet-, mobile- and satellite-based platforms as well as pay TV platforms and free to air coverage.
Mixed martial arts
Kwesé Sports acquired exclusive rights to screen the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) across Sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of South Africa, which it acquired non-exclusive rights, for three years. Screening commenced on 5 March 2016 with Kwesé Sports offering free live streaming of the EFC 47 event which was held at Carnival City in Johannesburg, South Africa. EFC President Cairo Howarth stated "We believe that Kwesé Sports represents the future of sports broadcasting on the continent and will open many new opportunities to new and existing EFC fans to enjoy quality EFC programming."