MP attacks Melita exclusivity deal

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando yesterday came out strongly against the deal reached by Melita Cable giving it the exclusive right to broadcast all 64 World Cup matches locally, and insisted that the event "should not be limited to the select few".

"The news that an operator in the local broadcasting scene has bought the exclusive rights to this festival of football and only intends to relinquish these rights, against payment, for just five matches is disappointing to the majority of local World Cup enthusiasts" Dr Pullicino Orlando said in an adjournment speech in Parliament.

He said the World Cup drew people together in a way few international events did.

In Malta, however, this opportunity would this summer only be available to the 17,607 Premium cable television subscribers! Although anyone could become a Premium subscriber against payment, many could not afford to do so.

Dr Pullicino Orlando insisted that local and European legislation prohibited this kind of exclusivity.

He said the World Cup was mentioned specifically in the EU's Television without Frontiers Directive which stated that: "Member states may draw up a list of events which must be broadcast unencrypted even if exclusive rights have been bought by pay television stations. The events concerned may be national or other, such as the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the European football championship..."

Furthermore, all the games of the final stages of the World Cup were in the list that was drawn up by the Malta Broadcasting Authority under the Broadcasting Regulations published in Legal Notice 158 of 2000.

The European Convention on Trans-frontier Television, which all the member states of the Council of Europe were signatory to, stated in Article 9 that: "Each party retains the right to take measures to ensure that a broadcaster within its jurisdiction does not broadcast on an exclusive basis events which are regarded by that party as being of major importance for society in such a way as to deprive a substantial proportion of the public in that party the possibility of following such events by live or deferred coverage on free television."

Dr Pullicino Orlando said he considered 90 per cent of Maltese households to be a substantial proportion of the public.

He therefore intended to take this matter up in Parliament and, if necessary, in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

"The Maltese public has a right to more liberal access to this popular event."

He said that in Italy, RAI would be transmitting one match per day throughout the final stages of the World Cup, meaning that the Italians would have access to 25 matches free of charge, including all the matches involving the Italian national team. This notwithstanding an agreement reached between Sky Italia and FIFA, which was practically identical to that finalised with the local pay-TV operator.

At present, the most the Maltese could expect was access to five games, none of which may involve their favourite team, he said.

The Nationalist MP insisted that this anomaly should be rectified as soon as possible.