Melita would like to assure Simon Camilleri (March 5) that it shares his view on the need to establish a TV rights sharing protocol between pay TV operators on the lines that exist in other European markets.

Melita is on record stating that such an agreement between pay TV operators would benefit all pay TV customers in the country and not only those who are making use of bedside entertainment provided at Mater Dei Hospital.

This has been the company’s position for several years, even at a time when Melita owned TV rights for all the major sports content.

Melita has regularly urged the other licensed pay TV operator (publicly, privately and through the Malta Communications Authority) to reach an arrangement on the lines of those found in other European markets.

Melita had also warned that an uncontrolled frenzy of bidding for sports rights would spiral out of control and have negative effects on customers. Costs to acquire TV rights have exploded in recent years, thus pushing money away from Malta. Subscription packages for premium sports content have shot up too and, coupled with the existing fragmentation, clients are left with little choice except to consider unregulated legal or illegal options.

Since the option to strike a commercial agreement has so far been elusive, then no other option remains except for the regulators to adopt better market regulation that places pay TV customers at the top of their agenda. Melita would be willing to participate in discussions to iron out a pragmatic win-win solution for all parties.

Within the parameters of content we control, Melita has undertaken initiatives with Public Broadcasting Services to screen local football, European leagues and the FIFA World Cup on TVM and TVM 2, even in high definition quality.

In this case, the rights-sharing model proved to be a success and very beneficial to the Maltese. In these cases, Melita owned the TV rights and shared them with the public broadcaster to ensure the widest possible accessibility.