beIN says it owns broadcast rights for Champions League in Singapore
Fans here continue to be kept in suspense as Qatari-owned media company says it owns rights
A new player has emerged in the ongoing drama surrounding the broadcast rights for the Uefa Champions League (UCL) and Uefa Europa League (UEL) competitions, as football fans here continue to be kept on tenterhooks.
Qatari-owned media company beIN Sports told The New Paper yesterday that it has the rights to screen UCL and UEL matches in Singapore but declined to give more details.
The beIN logo could be seen during the five UCL matches that were telecast live on pay-TV operator Singtel's mio Sports channels yesterday.
Meanwhile, Singtel has kept up its live European football coverage, announcing another slate of matches in a Facebook post at about 3pm yesterday.
The telco said five more UCL games played this morning, including clashes between Young Boys-Manchester United, Manchester City-Lyon and Real Madrid-Roma, and six UEL matches tomorrow will be shown, but there was still no mention of whether the remainder of both competitions will be made available.
TWO MORE WEEKS
The next round of UCL group games will start on Oct 3, leaving Singtel and fellow pay-TV operator StarHub two more weeks to ink a clear-cut deal.
TNP previously reported that London-based live sports streaming service DAZN had won the rights to broadcast three seasons of the UCL and UEL from this year in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
With beIN claiming to hold the UCL and UEL broadcast rights here, there is even more uncertainty for fans who have been made to wait until the very last second to get their European football fix.
Making the situation even muddier, StarHub has been carrying the beIN Sports channel here since 2016 and currently shows the Spanish La Liga, the French Ligue 1 and Coupe de la Ligue, as well the Turkish and Australian leagues.
Despite this, StarHub has yet to screen this season's UCL and UEL matches and the telco is still in its own discussions to get the broadcast rights.
This is the longest that UCL broadcast rights negotiations here have dragged on, and Singtel's move to telecast matches without a firm agreement in place is unprecedented.
In 2012, Singtel secured a deal with then-rights holder Team Marketing for three seasons six hours before the group-stage opener between Manchester City and Real Madrid.
A Manchester United fan and Singtel subscriber of three years, who wanted to be known only as Mr Toh C.H., is upset.
The self-employed 32-year-old said that if the telcos were sincere about broadcasting the matches, they should plan ahead and start negotiations way beforehand.
"I'll give credit where it is due. But this is only for (this week). Is the same thing going to happen come Oct 3, when the next round of matches kick off?
"All we want is assurance that we get to watch our favourite teams in action," he added.
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