Football tops Social Affairs Committee meeting

The Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss football TV rights and how consumers can benefit through collaboration between service providers.

The campaign, spearheaded by Nationalist MP David Agius, gained momentum just a week after its launch and has reached Parliament where representatives of the key stakeholders will meet to discuss sharing content so that viewers will not have to subscribe to two providers.

Mr Agius said he was "very satisfied" with the feedback he had received so far, confirming his belief that consumers are not getting a fair deal.

The Malta Communications Authority, the Broadcasting Authority, the Office for Consumer Affairs as well as Public Broadcasting Services, Melita and Go have all been invited for Tuesday's meeting which Mr Agius said was the first step towards better protection of customers' rights.

As things stand today, the two providers, Melita and Go, bid for TV sports rights which, eventually, translates into subscription fees for the respective sports channels.

For the coming football season, Go won the rights to air the Italian Serie A and the British Premier League - the two most followed football leagues in the country.

However, the broadcasting rights for the Champions League remained in possession of Melita. So to watch all the matches, viewers must subscribe to both service providers costing them a minimum of €52 per month.

Mr Agius is campaigning agreements to be in place that will oblige both providers to share rights, something which is already happening in other EU countries.

"The consumer is left with no choice. You either pay both operators to watch all top leagues or simply watch fewer football matches. Ofcom, the official UK communications regulator, faced with a similar scenario to the one in Malta, ruled that winners of football transmission rights are obliged to wholesale them to other service providers or rivals. I want the customer to be treated like a king," he said.

Mr Agius said the fact the key stakeholders would be airing their views in parliament showed how Parliament was close to people and understood their frustrations.

He also mentioned the possibility of raising the issue at a European level with the European Commissioner responsible for consumer protection John Dalli.