Broadcast company StarTimes Ghana is set to return as the official broadcast partner of the Ghana Premier League after holding advanced talks with the Ghana Football Association.

Since the expiration of the previous contract, the two entities - the GFA and StarTimes, have been locked in negotiations over a possible extension.

However, outstanding obligations to Premier League clubs from the previous contract threatened to throw a spanner in the works.

The main issue had to do with outstanding debts owed to the GFA, which, per JoySports checks, sums up to $950,000. Of that amount, up to $180,000 is owed to the clubs.

Per the contract, StarTimes was supposed to pay $30,000 to the clubs for each season. However, after paying the first two tranches, the Chinese-owned company could not fulfill its obligations to the club.

StarTimes proposed a revision of the contract terms and asked for the dollar rate to be changed with the outstanding debts to be calculated with a new, fixed rate.

This is because the original agreement did not include a fixed dollar rate, which meant that as Ghana's cedi depreciated against the United States dollar, StarTimes ended up paying more.

The situation was exacerbated by the fact that StarTimes decoders and subscriptions were sold in Ghana cedis and not dollar denominations.

However, sources have told JoySports that StarTimes will now clear the outstanding debt after the two parties agreed on a revised dollar rate for the outstanding debt.

Similarly, a new agreement has been reached for StarTimes to return as broadcast partners of the league.

The agreement, per JoySports checks, is set to begin when the second round of the ongoing season begins on January 24, 2025.

StarTimes began operations in 2016 before signing an agreement with the GFA in 2017 as the league's broadcast partner. They remained partners until the end of the 2023/24 season.

Currently, league matches are telecast on the free-to-air television channel AFA Sports and relayed on Metro TV, Globe TV, and Original TV. Clubs receive no money from Media 7 Group, operators of AFA Sports Television.