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Battle for BPL rights — SingTel, StarHub trade barbs

SINGAPORE — The battle for eyeballs between StarHub and SingTel involving prized broadcast rights to the Barclays Premier League (BPL) football matches was taken to a new level yesterday, with the red and green camps taking swipes at each other.

SINGAPORE — The battle for eyeballs between StarHub and SingTel involving prized broadcast rights to the Barclays Premier League (BPL) football matches was taken to a new level yesterday, with the red and green camps taking swipes at each other.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) — which regulates pay-TV — was also drawn into the extraordinary exchange.

It all began when StarHub issued a media statement announcing that it was “finally” able to open negotiations with the Premier League, five months after SingTel announced that it had acquired the non-exclusive broadcast rights to BPL football matches for the next three seasons.

Citing how its broadcast of UEFA Euro 2012 matches last June were also made available for SingTel customers under the cross-carriage regime, StarHub Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Jeannie Ong said: “We could have signed a ‘non-exclusive’ contract with a prohibitively high rebate and an ‘exclusive negotiating period’ to block access to the content. Instead, we chose to comply with the cross carriage regime and made the content available to all Singapore viewers.”

She added: “We played fairly. All we are asking for is fair play. After all, football is all about competition and fair play.”

Given that sports content is “particularly time-sensitive”, Ms Ong said it was “critically important” that broadcast rights to key sports content is “either truly non-exclusive or is subject to cross-carriage”.

“It is in Singapore viewers’ interest that the referee (the regulator) for this match (BPL broadcast rights) steps up in its refereeing to ensure fair play in Singapore,” she said.

StarHub’s outburst prompted a sharp retort from SingTel and the regulators — with SingTel taking the football match analogy further. “It’s time for StarHub to stop feigning injuries and to just get on with the game,” SingTel said.

SingTel added that the fact that StarHub has started negotiations with the Premier League (PL) “proves our point that there is nothing restricting PL from negotiating with StarHub”.

“However, we find it bewildering that StarHub continues to grouse even after PL has started talking with them,” it added.

“SingTel completed its negotiations with PL within two months. Instead of spending its resources and time complaining to the press, StarHub should work hard on negotiating with PL like SingTel did and get its deal with PL done by May, which will give Singapore football fans ample time to decide if they wish to enjoy the upcoming PL season on mio TV or on StarHub.

“We hope that StarHub can focus on the interest of football fans and negotiate with the Premier League instead of trying to pressure the regulator to get them the content for free.”

The MDA, meanwhile, said that it takes “very seriously” any suggestion that it has not upheld the principles of fair play and protecting consumer interests.

An MDA spokesperson said: “As Singapore’s media regulator, MDA seeks to enable and maintain fair market conduct and effective competition in Singapore’s media industry. As we have previously stated, we are currently determining the matter. As a regulator, our decisions are based on thorough, robust and fair assessment in accordance to due process. We will not be pressured by any party into doing otherwise.”

Fans were happy to be left out of the crossfire. They welcomed the development in the hope that this would mean more options and lower rates.

Some, including Adli Jumat, 19, said they could switch to StarHub, citing the technical glitch on SingTel mio TV on May 13 last year, which disrupted the broadcast of a nail-biting title decider involving Manchester City and Manchester United.

SingTel currently charges S$34.90 for its sports package, which includes BPL matches. Former StarHub Chief Executive Neil Montefiore told this newspaper in an interview last November that if a deal is signed, StarHub may charge customers S$25 to S$35 a month to watch the matches.

StarHub said it is “seeking clarification” from the Premier League on the rights available for it to acquire.

In response to TODAY’s queries, Ms Ong said that with the new season kicking off in five months, “we are deeply concerned about the rapidly diminishing window to sign up advertisers and sponsors”.

She added: “As we are now in March, there is a real risk that marketers have already allocated their annual budgets to other avenues, further harming our chances of acquiring advertisers by the time negotiations for the broadcast rights are concluded.”

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