The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) is yet to know their stand after Gateway Broadcast Services (GTV) suspended its operations after being hit hard by global financial crisis.

British based GTV signed US$4m four-year sponsorship deal with Cecafa in November 2007 and has been the official sponsor of the Cecafa Challenge Cup and their deal was expected to expire after the 2011 edition.

Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye told Times Sport yesterday that they will wait an official communication from GTV before deciding on the next step as far as finding another sponsor is concerned.

"We have been told that GTV has closed its operations but we’re yet to receive any official communication from them in their capacity as our sponsors,” Musonye said.

The company blamed "the current financial and global crisis” for the move which had "severely interrupted the company’s abilities to secure further funding”.

GTV services have been stopped with subscribers receiving a short message telling them the channel is off the air.

The company said it had invested $200 million in the business but that the economic crisis has caused excessive demands on the business.”

The deal with Cecafa saw GTV acquiring exclusive media and commercial rights and broadcasting the tournament live across Africa.

The arrival of GTV drastically changed the face of football in the Cecafa region and even spurred the fierce competition where new players emerged to the continental scene like Rwanda’s Haruna Niyonzima, Uganda’s Caesar Okhuti to mention but a few.

The 11-member countries forming Cecafa are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zanzibar, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Djibouti

Gateway Broadcast Services supplied programmes under the GTV banner to countries from Kenya to Botswana.

GTV sponsored the domestic leagues in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.

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