Terrestrial TV: World Cup broadcast rights highlights weakness

June 2007...

Hong Kong-based pay-TV broadcaster i-Cable wins the rights to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and hints that it will not share any content with local terrestrial stations TVB and ATV. Elsewhere in Asia, pay-TV is snapping up the rights for the event. China, Vietnam and Indonesia are among the few countries where the tournament will be broadcast free-to-air (FTA)

April 2010...

Following months of wrangling, and Government pressure, i-Cable announces it will allow TVB and ATV to broadcast a four-game selection of live matches, plus a highlights package, from South Africa - but only if they broadcast the entire coverage, including i-Cable's advertising. The games must also be broadcast on the terrestrial broadcaster's digital channels, which immediately alienates almost half the viewing population as FTA digital penetration in Hong Kong stands at a little more than 50 per cent.

May 2010...

Singapore's pay-TV operators SingTel and StarHub announce that they have secured the 2010 broadcast rights in the City State, leaving national FTA broadcaster MediaCorp in the cold. The win also marks the first time that high profile content will be aired simultaneously, following a Government regulation that allows pay-TV operators to carry content purchased by another player.

June 2010...

In a similar deal to that announced in Hong Kong, MediaCorp says it has reached an agreement with SingTel and StarHub to air live four key matches from the World Cup on the broadcaster?s Channel 5 and HD5 channels. MediaCorp hails the deal as a victory for consumers in Singapore, even though the remaining 60 matches are out of bounds to viewers without a pay-TV subscription.

Fast forward...

The World Cup could be just the tip of the iceberg as cash-rich telcos buy up all the prime content, particularly sporting rights, in Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere. However, negative consumer sentiment may start to tell. In Singapore, more than 20,000 football fans have formed a protest group against the rise in subscription fees for the World Cup. Government intervention in the negotiating stage in both Hong Kong and Singapore also suggests that consumer accessibility may be a burning issue in the future.