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Pay TV soccer fans told to switch to antennas
The benefits pay TV customers get by accessing top channels from around the world will mean nothing for football diehards during this year’s World Cup as no local TV cable operators will broadcast the games
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he benefits pay TV customers get by accessing top channels from around the world will mean nothing for football diehards during this year’s World Cup as no local TV cable operators will broadcast the games.
This fact is a bitter pill for Wisnu Setiawan to swallow.
The 27-year old graphic designer from Jakarta is among millions of cable TV customers who cannot watch the World Cup matches through his cable service.
“I pay a lot for the cable service and now they don’t give us the World Cup,” said Wisnu, who has been a customer of PT First Media — one of the country’s largest cable service providers — for years.
No cable TV operator in Indonesia will broadcast World Cup matches as the license holder for the event, PT Electronic City Entertainment, has granted exclusive broadcast rights to three free-to-air local TV stations: RCTI, Global TV and Jak TV (for re-runs).
Some customers complain that the most disappointing aspect was the lack of official explanation from pay TV companies about the absence of the matches on their channels.
“I don’t mind as long as they give a clear explanation,” said 28-year old accountant Shanti Norita, who expressed disappointment with the Indovision — the country’s largest pay TV provider — for not informing customers.
In Bali, confused customers have been asked by Indovision to re-install conventional UHF antennas.
For some, this is definitely a set back, because people throw away their UHF antennas and switch to cable TV to get better coverage.
First Media corporate secretary Harianda Noerlan requested customers understand the policy as it was issued to avoid burdening customers with additional fees.
“Picking up the license rights would not have been economically feasible for our business as we have a limited number of customers while the license fee is too expensive and would end up costing us,” he said.
First Media has 170,000 customers nationwide.
Even though Indonesia has one of the most robust pay TV industries according to the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, the number of cable TV customers is less than 2 million, or about 0.8 percent of the total population.
The rivalry between cable and free-to-air broadcasters in the country has always heightened during soccer match screenings. Previously, cable TV networks had the upper hand after securing exclusive rights to broadcast English Premier League games, generating complaints from the public.
