There was a time when KBC would bring to Kenyans all the important Foot matches ranging from the local league, African cup of Nations to World Cup. I remember the time when during Gor vs AFC matches either you are in the stadium or tuned on KBC Tv or get the commentary from KBC radio. That is the main reason why the names like Peter Dawo, Muhamed Abbas, Joe Kadenge are household names in Kenya.
You might think that the above names are better footballers than the current generations of football players who not many people in the country know about. But that is far from the truth, we have some of the finest players in the immediate past or currently who were/are capable of playing anywhere in the World. Take the exploits of Dennis Oliench, a man I consider the best Kenyan footballer ever. His goal against Cape Verde that sent Kenya to Africa Cup of nations in 2004 still brings me joy up to date. Yes, I was in the stadium that day and the fans were almost giving up. But Oliech delivered with one of the best goals I have seen scored by a Harambee Star player. Then there was the former midfield maestro, MacDonald Mariga who was the first Kenyan to win Champions league in Europe. Not left behind, is his brother Victor Wanyama, who went on play for Southhamton as well as Tottenham Hotspurs in English Premier League. Currently, the Engineer Michael Olunga, the former Gor Mahia star, is doing big things out there in Qatar, after his exploits in Japan. I think what has been missing is what KBC used to do, provide the coverage for the beautiful Football in the country and the finest footballers around.
The death of KBC also meant the public drifted away from the local leagues to foreign leagues like English Premier league. These days you rarely hear people talk about how the local teams played during their last games. All the talks are about the foreign teams and it is common to read or hear statements such as “We as Manchester United or We as Arsenal”. At the moment watching football is predominantly through DStv and other foreign streaming sites. One disadvantage with the current situation is that watching football is very expensive and is almost out of reach for a the common Kenyan citizens. The channel such as DStv are very expensive, while the live streaming sites are out of reach for those who do not have stable internet access .
Given the above I was eager to understand what K24 Plus app is about especially on their live streaming of Sports. We have written about it here but that was before I was able to really test the live streaming side of the sports. During the Africa Cup of Nations, I enjoyed watching all the matches that I had purpose to watch through the App. The great thing about it is that it purely on mobile phone, so I did not have to rush back home in order to watch the matches especially those which were starting early.
After Africa Cup of Nations, there are many games that one can watch through the app ranging from the CAF Champions league, Golf, Rugby and many more. Yes, you can watch English premier league matches on the app.
Also, I observed something very strange with behaviour of some of the foreign broadcasters specifically the SkySports. SkySports highlights restricted videos of most actions during the competition but somehow allowed people to watch some controversial incidences like bad referee calls, bad tackles or cases of indiscipline in general. A clear indication that SkySports was trying to discredit the competition. This started way back in the build up to the start of the AFCON. The competition received very negative coverage through the UK media, going to the extent of asking players whether they would honour their call to the national teams.
The SkySports behavior made me to appreciate the K24 Plus app much more. And I kept telling my friends that it is time to build our local media and that can only happen if we tune in and support the efforts of the likes of K24 with their K24 Plus app. Start by downloading the Android app here and the iOS here.
