Singtel to broadcast Matchday 1 of Champions League, but deal for season still up in air

SINGAPORE — After an anxious wait, football fans will be able to catch Matchday 1 of the Uefa Champions League in the early hours of Wednesday (Sept 19), after Singtel TV announced a last-ditch deal to secure the rights to show five matches.

The announcement was made late on Tuesday night, barely three hours before the first matches — Inter Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur; and Barcelona vs PSV Eindhoven — kick off.

However, the cable TV operator declined further comment when asked if a deal has been struck with the rights owners to screen the entire season of Europe’s premium club football competition.

Singtel had told The Straits Times on Monday that Singtel TV remains in discussion with the Uefa Champions League and Europa League licensee to secure the broadcast rights.

Its rival StarHub, which did not secure rights to broadcast Wednesday morning’s matches, told TODAY that, as of 10pm on Tuesday night, the “discussions are still underway for the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League”.

“As the acquisition of broadcast rights are commercially confidential, we are not able to disclose more information at this stage,” its spokesperson said.  

This is not the first time that football fans in Singapore have had to wait till the eleventh hour to find out if they can tune in to watch the matches live.

Negotiations have dragged on between rights owners of major sporting events and broadcasters here in previous years.

In 2016, Mediacorp stuck a deal with broadcast rights holder Dentsu for the Olympic Games just a day before the opening ceremony.

Football fan Ivan Tan told TODAY that he renewed his Singtel TV subscription in May as it promised to “showcase the English Premier League (EPL), Champions League, and other European league matches”.

Singtel TV’s last-minute announcement was scant consolation.

“I wouldn’t say I’m delighted, but I’m relieved to a certain extent,” he said. “Had Singtel TV not been able to get the rights, I would be really upset. We should probably demand (partial refund) from them.

“We’ve to see if it will screen the other matches. If (Wednesday’s broadcasts) is just a one-off, then it’s unacceptable.”

He added: “If (Singtel TV) marketed its package to include the EPL, Champions League and European matches, then it needs to deliver on its promises.”

A  63-year-old retiree, a StarHub subscriber who gave his name as just Mr Tang, said: “I feel quite frustrated because I was looking forward to the Barcelona game. Now, I will have to miss watching them until StarHub gets the rights to show the matches.”

Singapore’s football fans were able to catch Uefa Champions League and Europa League matches on both Singtel and StarHub in the last three years because Eurosport, which is owned by Discovery Communications, won the exclusive media rights to the competitions for a three-year window and made them available to Singtel and StarHub.

As of August this year, Singtel and StarHub no longer carry Eurosport.