MP urges PBS to buy rights for World Cup

The Public Broadcasting Services should buy the rights to a part or all World Cup matches in four years' time, Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said yesterday.

Asked by The Times to comment on the fact that World Cup 2006 matches will be aired for free on Smash TV, Dr Pullicino Orlando, who had spoken in Parliament against World Cup matches being exclusively shown on Melita sports channels, said the arrangement was a huge step forward considering the present commercial reality.

Since Melita Cable have bought the rights to screen World Cup 2006 locally, only a small selection of the 64 matches - including the opening game, the semi-finals and final - will be screened live on the local free-to-air channel. Smash TV will also broadcast repeats of all remaining matches.

According to Dr Pullicino Orlando, the present arrangement is much fairer than that proposed initially by Melita Cable. However, there was no better way of ensuring that all Maltese have access to the World Cup than if the state-owned station bought exclusive rights next time round, he said.

"The question is whether the taxpayer is ready to fork out some Lm200,000 for PBS to bid for the World Cup rights, given that FIFA usually gives national broadcasters preference over other bidders," Dr Pullicino Orlando said.

Joseph Muscat, a Labour member of the European Parliament who has addressed the issue over the past months, said it was good that Smash TV would broadcast some live games. However, the current arrangement was no victory for the consumer.

"Consumers have definitely lost when compared to four years ago," he said.

Mr Muscat commended the Broadcasting Authority saying it had fairly insisted that a number of games had to be provided for free, adding that the BA had acted under a lot of pressure.

"It would have been perfectly in line with the TV-without-frontiers directive had the authority interpreted the entire month as the final stage of the World Cup given that the competition is played over two years," Mr Muscat said.

But the issue goes beyond the World Cup rights and has to do with the way digital terrestrial television is being introduced, he said.

"Interoperability, which means that consumers have the possibility to switch easily between local network operators, is non-existent. Besides, people are being charged to watch free-to-air stations. In the case of public broadcasting, consumers are being made to pay a yearly license and a private carrier at the same time," Mr Muscat said.

He warned that if the situation is not tackled properly and if the regulators approach the issue in piecemeal fashion, new technologies will help secure monopolies instead of giving rise to competition which benefits consumers.

Andrew Farrugia, co-ordinator of Smash TV and Smash radio, insisted yesterday that Smash TV would be received from all corners of the country when the World Cup kicks off in June.

He said the company would be installing a number of repeaters in Malta and Gozo so that the station may reach all households.

Besides being carried by Melita Cable, Smash TV can be received via antenna on channel 44. About 18 per cent of households receive only free-to-air channels through an antenna.

Smash TV cannot be received by Multiplus subscribers as it had refused to form part of the Multiplus package on grounds that people should not be made to pay for a station that is transmitted for free.

Questions over Smash TV's capability to reach a wide audience were raised when the Broadcasting Authority expressed concern that Smash TV has only limited coverage. The BA thus ordered Melita Cable to make arrangements with another terrestrial channel to air these matches.

The issue ended up in court in mid-March when Smash Communications filed a judicial protest against the BA, with the authority and its executive head, Kevin Aquilina, filing counter-protests two days later.

On Monday, however, Smash Communications said it was working with the BA and the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) to be given back repeater frequencies.

The Times asked Dr Aquilina why the BA now appeared to consider Smash TV an "acceptable" station when it had claimed that the station did not reach a wide-enough portion of the population. A reply to questions sent by e-mail had not been received at the time of writing.

Mr Farrugia said the BA had been unable to pinpoint which areas or localities of Malta and Gozo were not being covered by Smash TV, despite being asked specifically a question in this regard.

He said the station was carrying out an information campaign to encourage customers to turn their aerial towards Dwejra - an area between Rabat and Mgarr (Malta) - from where the station's signal is emitted.

"We are also suggesting what can be done in the case of households which have difficulty receiving our signal in particular localities," Mr Farrugia added.