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Football broadcast rights from Starhub to Singtel...


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171507.2 in reply to 171507.1

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,...,159831,00.html?

Singtel wins exclusive rights for Champions League, Uefa Cup matches from 2009 to 2012

VIEWERS SAY:

Pay more? We feel played out By Zubaidah Nazeer March 22, 2008 printicon.gif? emailicon.gif[/url] 5.gif

FOOTBALL fans who want to catch the Champions League and Uefa Cup matches from the later half of next year will have to sign up for SingTel's mio TV and its Internet and mobile services. NP_NEWS_1_CURRENT_ZUSING-7QGt.jpg[/url] Football fans will still be able to catch Champions League matches on ESPNStarSports via StarHub for the 2008/2009 season. --File picture

Both Uefa and SingTel released statements yesterday, announcing that SingTel has been awarded the exclusive rights to screen these European club tournaments in Singapore from next year till 2012.

In addition to broadcasting the matches on its pay-TV service, SingTel will also screen them through its online portal and in clips over its mobile service.

Football fans interviewed by The New Paper said the move seems to put consumers on the losing end.

Civil servant Azman Jamil, 48, said: 'I feel like I've been played out. For any soccer fan like me, we consider tournaments like the English Premier League (EPL) and Champions League to be big, so we watch them all.

'So now, you're telling me that I should either pay more to another service provider or not watch it? How is this fair?'

Another football fan, 59-year-old NMudin, agreed.

He said: 'What they do is not in the best interest of soccer fans.

'Over the years, we have had to pay more for sports channels. Now, even after having paid more, we still can't watch some big-name matches.'

Some fans, like Mr Ron Tan, 29, said they are resigned to just watching EPL next time.

Mr Tan, a facilities executive, said: 'EPL is a bigger tournament with more matches.

'At most, I'll just go to a pub or the home of a friend who has SingTel's mio TV if I really want to watch a UefaCup or Champions League match next time.'

Mr Allen Lew, SingTel's CEO, said mio TV is 'an integral part of the services that SingTel provides, and what drives pay-TV take-up is the quality of content'.

Uefa, on a news release posted on its website, welcomed its new Singapore partner.

It said: 'The commitment they have made to acquire the media rights is evidence of the tremendous popularity of the Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Cup in Singapore.

'Uefa also thanks ESPN StarSports and StarHub for their excellent contribution to broadcasting the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Cup respectively.'

ESPN StarSports has been the sole broadcaster of Champions League matches in Singapore via StarHub cable channels.

In reply to our queries, a spokesman for ESPN StarSports said: 'While it has been our best intention to continue showcasing the tournament, we are disappointed that after May 2009, we shall not be able to do so in Singapore.'

ESPN StarSports said that it will still be showing the current and following seasons of Champions League matches which run from September to May.

STILL SHOWING FA CUP

It said its sports offerings remain 'robust and strong', with the English FA Cup and other big-name sports events in the tennis, rugby and cricket arenas.

StarHub's spokesman said it did not bid for the broadcast rights to Champions League and Uefa Cup as it had previously been made available via ESPN and StarSports channels.

The competition between StarHub and SingTel for the cable subscribers-pie has been fierce.

And football, being one of the major reasons that viewers subscribe to pay-TV, is a lucrative market.

Just last month, StarHub had announced that it won the bid to screen all the 31 live matches in the upcoming Uefa Euro 2008 Championships this June.

After the World Cup, the European Championships is the most-watched football tournament in the world.

SingTel missed out on the chance to broadcast live EPL matches, when StarHub outbid both SingTel and ESPN StarSports in late 2006 for the rights to broadcast EPL matches here.

StarHub paid an estimated $250 million for this, or four times the previous price. It then raised subscription cost for its sports channels to $25, up from $15.

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so i want to watch EPL i subscribe to Starhub, next time wan to watch Championship league, i have to subscribe to MIO TVthumbsdown.gifthumbsdown.gifthumbsdown.gif KNN...

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LL lor.. this is capitalism at its best. maximise profit mah. more competition resulted in a bidding war which increased the cost rather than price competition since this rights are exclusive. best way is to make them lose money as the local market is very small. see if they still want to out bid each other and make sillyporeans pay for their bragging rights.

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IMO don't think much will change in terms of subscribers jumping ship. Not many will want to give up weekly ELP for bi-weekly CL/UEFA, and even less will subscribe to both. Singtel just wasting money tats all, which is why we see StarHub not bothering to bid. Not sure how many will subscribe to Mio and wake up every other Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday at 3.30am... [sweatdrop]

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Lucky i dun really watch CL matches coz its usually shown on weekdays early morning.

it'll be worse if singtel got EPL instead..

 

anyway since starhub lost our on CL, they should give the sports subscriber a discount.

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which is why we see StarHub not bothering to bid

that's the prob there.... bloody star hub knows most sports channel subscribers would not forsake EPL on starhub cable thus they did not bid for the rights, so now we starhub subscribers LL, cos we pay so much for the sports package, with prices increasing gradually and now we lose the right to watch the champion's league. starhub should lower their fees!!!!! furious.gif

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That's a good point, Starhub will be offering less next season, so they should reduce their price....but I seriously doubt that will happen [thumbsdown] Anyway, won't be subscribing to Mio just for the priviledge to wake up at 3am on a weekday morning!

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So maybe should curse Singtel instead for being dumb n bidding for something which will not make a difference to both their subscription numbers. I seriously can't believe they can be that dumb...but then again maybe they just hired some elite scholars.

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