Premier League broadcast rights

I refer to the letter by Vince Tanti from San Ġwann entitled Losing Out On Premiership Matches (May 24) and wish to clarify Melita Cable's position.

Melita Cable has the exclusive rights to broadcast "live" the Barclays Premier League.

However, the rights' holders (Premier League) from whom Melita obtains its broadcast rights, stipulate in their contract that all re-broadcasters around the world (such as Melita in the case of Malta), have to omit a minimum of one game of each team per season.

This is to ensure that all teams end up with the same viewership independently of how they fare in the competition.

Melita Cable regrets this inconvenience that is a contractual condition applied all over the world, but is proud to be one of very few re-broadcasters across the world that have the right to transmit the entire league minus one match per team.

For instance Sky UK broadcasts a total of 92 Barclays Premier League matches per season while Melita broadcasts 340 matches per season.

It is a known fact that Melita has always done its very best to offer its sports subscribers the best sports package in Europe.

In fact for the June and July season major live events include: The Manchester United Tour, the IAAF Grand Prix-Athletics, the 2010 Fifa World Cup Qualifier, the Formula 1 Races besides at least 12 other local and international sporting events from the world of swimming, waterpolo, tennis, aviation, motorsport and wrestling.

Finally, I extend an invitation to Mr Tanti to call Melita on 2727 0000 so that I can explain in more detail the contractual obligations which all broadcasters of the Barclays Premier League must adhere to.