Maldivians may not watch World Cup
02/05/2006 |
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?TV Maldives? has been told it has to stump up $600,000 to broadcast FIFA World Cup games this summer, meaning the vast majority of Maldivians could face a summer without football unless a new deal is struck.
The figure represents a 3000% increase on what the government owned broadcaster paid for the same rights four years ago.
The Minister of Information and Arts, Mohamed Nasheed, said that the local cable operator had been given the broadcast rights to all 64 games, but they had only 25,000 subscribers.
Nasheed suggested that the holder of the broadcast rights was taking advantage of the Maldivians? love of football.
?Charging a small public broadcasting organisation such as ours whose only interest is to show its nationals their life-blood game is like taking away the means of our life and charging an exorbitant amount to return those means,? he said.
Mr Nasheed said that the satellite operator which had acquired the broadcast rights from FIFA was asking TV Maldives to pay ?a tsunami amount of money.?
?And if we understand correctly, there are richer and bigger countries that would pay only US$40,000 to watch all the 64 games,? the Minister said.
Mr Nasheed appealed to all members of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) to support its cause to obtain the FIFA World Cup 2006 rights ?at a bearable cost that is commensurate with our nation, its population and its capacities?.
The Secretary-General of the ABU, David Astley, said the price being asked of TV Maldives was a 3,000 percent increase on what the broadcaster paid for the same rights in 2002.
?The amount being asked is totally out of proportion to what other countries of this size are being asked to pay?.
Mr Astley said he had been informed that the government was drafting ?listed events? legislation which would require events like the World Cup to be made available to free-to-air television at a reasonable cost.
?This could have been avoided if the pay-TV provider had been willing to negotiate a fair price with the free-to-air broadcaster.
?I believe it is a case of the pay-TV operator simply not being aware of the market conditions in the Maldives,? he said.
Mr Astley said that the ABU?s Head of Sport, John Barton, would hold discussions with the pay-TV operator concerned and was hopeful that a deal could be reached which would not necessitate the Maldives government rushing new legislation through parliament.
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