With under two weeks to go before the start of the 2025-2026 Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season, chief organiser Owen Hill says he is confident that a new broadcast partner will be in place in time for the opening whistle.

The island’s top-flight football competition is scheduled to kick off on August 24. The search for a new production partner comes after SportsMax’s parent company, Digicel, shut down the Caribbean sports broadcaster and streaming platform on August 8, ending more than two decades of operations.

SportsMax had held the production and distribution rights for the JPL since 2020, broadcasting hundreds of live games regionally via its cable channel and mobile app.

According to Hill, the league is already in advanced negotiations with a number of companies, both locally and internationally, to take over the broadcast and production of the JPL.

“We are in the market looking for production partners. We have done a shortlist and selected a preferred bidder. We are working through some final details so that we can maintain the standard we’ve had for the last five years,” said Hill, the chief executive officer of Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL), which manages and promotes the league.

“We are positive and optimistic. From the minute we got the news about the exit of SportsMax, we have been at it.”

He noted that replacing SportsMax is not straightforward, especially while aiming to modernise the JPL’s broadcast product. “It is not an easy task. We had to look for partners willing to take us into a new dimension. Technology is a major part of the production aspect and we want to make sure we infuse anything modern that allows us greater economies of scale and the same level of coverage we have had.

“It’s a hybrid approach; we are in talks about international partnerships to power the solution, as well as local contracted companies and partners,” he said.

Hill emphasised that the goal is not only to maintain but also to improve the quality of the production.

“We are trying to increase the quality and make sure the standards are at least at the level of previous seasons. This is the Caribbean’s number one league and we must always be leading from the front. Regardless of any external or internal challenges, we are ready and looking ahead to the new season,” said the PFJL CEO.

Cavalier FC are the defending champions.

— Robert Bailey

Owen Hill