Monday Night football moves to TVJ — Cato
The long-awaited return of the Red Stripe Premier League Monday Night football feature is set for February 10, but will be hosted by a new television station in TVJ with a new time of 8:30 pm.
Since taking over sponsorship of the local Premier League in 2012, Red Stripe brought with them a new concept of late night football on Mondays and was praised for their brilliant innovation.
That 9:00 pm slot was aired on CVM TV and produced by Phase 3 Production was an instant hit with its interactive nature, getting the fans involved especially during the half-time break and at the end of the game.
Jomo Cato, head of marketing at Red Stripe, told the Jamaica Observer that, although they had great viewing on CVM, they wanted more of the prime time.
“We have been the number one show on Monday nights for the past two years beating all networks and the move to TVJ…we expect to continue to lead,” said Cato.
“We wanted to have the game started at an earlier time in terms of catching viewership and also in terms of the earlier start in the communities.
“While we can start the game at an earlier time in the communities we needed to work with a TV situation that could allow that move. We couldn’t get it done in the present situation because CVM has their news which runs from eight o’clock during the prime time that we would have wanted,” he explained.
Cato said all efforts were made to make the new approach work with CVM, but it was not tenable.
“We tried to make it happen but we could not. We understand that. We had a great relationship with CVM which allowed us to build this property. There was an opportunity on TVJ for 8:30 and we decided to choose that option because it allows us to win in terms of prime time audience,” Cato reiterated.
The Monday night games will be also be rebroadcast on TVJ Sports Network and discussions are on going to have Cable provider Flow air them on chanel 100.
— Howard Walker