Does cross‐border broadcast of foreign football change the demand pattern of domestic recreation? : Empirical study of imports of audiovisual services through digital satellite television

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate Nigeria's audiovisual services import demand using foreign football transmitted through digital satellite television (DSTV) as a case study. The major focus is on whether such imports effectively replace local recreation in watching domestic football. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examined descriptive statistics. The methodology employed is a combination of descriptive analysis and cross‐sectional regression. Findings – The paper's analytical framework establishes a link between the conventional import demand and demand for football functions, while the estimated empirical counterpart found that the demand for foreign football via cross‐border satellite transmission is a statistically significant function of taste for foreign football, quality, and entertainment. While descriptive statistics indicate respondents’ preference for foreign football, the test of significance rejected the hypothesis that the demand for foreign football broadcast service imports has replaced demand for domestic football as an entertaining sport. In addition, the demand for foreign football broadcast is fairly inelastic, as a greater percentage of the respondents will watch foreign football even if the cost of subscription or cost of paying per view in the viewing centers increase. Originality/value – The paper describes the first of this type of research to be conducted in Nigeria.