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No reprieve for EPL broadcaster
Local English soccer fans missed the Manchester United and Arsenal match Sunday after the government suspended pay TV Astro's broadcasting license for administrative violations
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Local English soccer fans missed the Manchester United and Arsenal match Sunday after the government suspended pay TV Astro's broadcasting license for administrative violations.
The indefinite suspension came into effect Friday morning, with the Information and Communications Ministry citing Astro's failure to meet four of its obligations, including payment for its frequency fees and the absence of an operations feasibility study of its new location.
PT Direct Vision, which operates Astro TV in Indonesia, has received more than 18,200 complaints from customers since the suspension, with many threatening to cancel their subscriptions if the block is not resolved within a week, the company's vice president for corporate affairs, Halim Mahfudz, said Sunday.
Live English Premier League (EPL) matches are watched by a large portion of Astro's subscribers, who total some 140,000. However, with the exclusive rights to broadcast EPL matches, Astro is facing monopoly allegations from the Business Competition Supervisory Commission.
Bank employee Gusneldi, an EPL enthusiast, said he would choose another cable TV provider if Astro did not return to the air soon.
"It's a pity. Astro succeeded in acquiring the license to broadcast the English Premier League but is failing to satisfy its customers," said Gusneldi, who has subscribed Astro for six months.
With the English Premier League drawing to a close, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are still in contention for the title.
Halim said Direct Vision paid Rp 191 million (US$20,000) in frequency use fees to the ministry on Thursday -- the first time it had successfully made the payment since 2005.
The company is waiting for the results of the ministry's operational feasibility evaluation, which only began Friday.
"We are expecting the ministry will tell us when we can get back on the air as we are responsible to our 140,000 subscribers," said Halim, adding that the block was costing the company US$100,000 a day.
The spokesman for the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications, Gatot S. Dewa Broto, said the ministry would continue its evaluation Monday.
He could not say how long the process would take to complete.
"This will depend on the amount of problems," he said.
Gatot underlined the government was not trying to complicate the situation for Astro.
"The sooner Astro TV is back on air, the better, because we are also concerned for the public's interest," he said. (alf)
