English supporters were fuming yesterday, not only after they were knocked out of the World Cup by historic rivals Germany but even before that, when many of them found out they would be unable to watch the big match at home.

The much anticipated game was expected to be aired on TVM but turned out to be one of the 16 exclusive games that could only be watched by subscribers of Melita Sports Channel.

To make matters worse, Italian station Rai opted not to air the game, leaving those not subscribed to Melita with only a repeat of the match shown on Education 22 later on.

According to Melita and Public Broadcasting Services, it was always known that this match would be up for grabs.

Melita, which has the rights to show all the 64 matches, had won a tender to show 16 of them exclusively, with the opportunity to select some of these matches along the way.

It chose to buy the Germany-England match after the 16 teams in the knock-out phase became known.

When contacted yesterday, Nationalist MP David Agius, who has been campaigning for unrestricted access to TV football, described the decision as “a terrible mistake” which was not in the interest of consumers.

He said PBS, which had otherwise done a very good job this time round, should have ensured that matches involving Maltese favourites Italy and England were not jeopardised in this way for TV viewers.

Meanwhile, online commentators lashed out at both PBS and Melita for denying them the opportunity to watch the game for free. One of them suggested that they attend today’s meeting of Parliament’s Social Affairs Committee to discuss how Go and Melita can share football rights.

“I urge all those who are against this mockery... to attend the meeting and voice your protest. The meeting starts at 9.30 a.m. at Parliament. You need to wear a jacket and tie. Come on, let's show them our disapproval,” Jeremy Vassallo wrote on timesofmalta.com.

But PBS hit back at criticism, saying that if it had not found a buyer for those 16 games, it could not have afforded to pay for the rights to air any of the games at all.

“Rai is showing some 22 games and BBC just 12. We will be showing 46 in all. But people still complain!”

Acting CEO Natalino Fenech added that as from tomorrow, PBS would be showing all the matches directly, except for one of the quarter finals on July 3.

PBS will also be showing a repetition of the match afterwards on Education 22.

Meanwhile, Melita distanced itself from promotion made by PBS that TVM would be showing the match and described such promotion as “unfortunate”.

A spokesman admitted that promotion was also given on Melita’s website but said TV listings information was provided by respective stations through an automated system.

“It’s a great pity if we approach the broadcasting of this World Cup from a negative standpoint as there has never been such an extensive free-to-air coverage in Malta before,” the spokesman added.

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