Greater londres
08-06-2006, 15:07
..television rights
North African soccer fans are angry over stalled negotiations on costly access to television coverage, fearing they may miss out on a large chunk of World Cup action. Television executives from Morocco and Algeria have yet to clinch deals with Arab Radio and Television (ART), a Saudi company that has World Cup broadcast rights in the region, for the transmission of each match on their national state networks.
In Tunisia, whose national team is participating, state television will be allowed to broadcast the opening ceremony, the matches involving Tunisia, plus the semifinal and the final. But nothing more. Fans are up in arms. And the realisation that many of the region’s normally expert satellite pirates are as yet unable to decode the World Cup signal has only deepened the dismay. “It would be a nightmare to miss it. The World Cup is a golden opportunity to forget our daily problems for a while,” said Nabil Kerri, a 30-year-old unemployed Algerian.
“It is absurd ... to deprive poor people here and elsewhere in Africa from moments of pleasure in watching the World Cup,” said Bilal Simoudi, a bus driver in the Moroccan capital Rabat. Tarek Chlago, a journalist in Tunisia, said: “The Cup is based on the idea that the world is a village, but with the exclusive purchase of broadcast rights this notion no longer exists”.
another example of money-grabbing fifa :mad:
North African soccer fans are angry over stalled negotiations on costly access to television coverage, fearing they may miss out on a large chunk of World Cup action. Television executives from Morocco and Algeria have yet to clinch deals with Arab Radio and Television (ART), a Saudi company that has World Cup broadcast rights in the region, for the transmission of each match on their national state networks.
In Tunisia, whose national team is participating, state television will be allowed to broadcast the opening ceremony, the matches involving Tunisia, plus the semifinal and the final. But nothing more. Fans are up in arms. And the realisation that many of the region’s normally expert satellite pirates are as yet unable to decode the World Cup signal has only deepened the dismay. “It would be a nightmare to miss it. The World Cup is a golden opportunity to forget our daily problems for a while,” said Nabil Kerri, a 30-year-old unemployed Algerian.
“It is absurd ... to deprive poor people here and elsewhere in Africa from moments of pleasure in watching the World Cup,” said Bilal Simoudi, a bus driver in the Moroccan capital Rabat. Tarek Chlago, a journalist in Tunisia, said: “The Cup is based on the idea that the world is a village, but with the exclusive purchase of broadcast rights this notion no longer exists”.
another example of money-grabbing fifa :mad: