'RCTI' says trouble settled with FIFA over W. Cup rights
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesians will likely continue to enjoy viewing World Cup games for one full month as RCTI claimed on Friday it had seen off a threat by the international soccer body FIFA to revoke the sole rights the private TV channel holds to broadcast the spectacular one-month event.
FIFA scolded RCTI for allowing a spillover of its broadcast via satellite and threatened to strip it of the rights, unless the television network overcame the problem soon.
The admonishment was made on June 1 through KirchMedia, a giant international multimedia company appointed by the FIFA as holder of sole rights to air the games worldwide.
"The threat is serious. But we have explained to KirchMedia what steps we have taken to deal with this problem, and they may accept it," RCTI spokesman Teguh Juwarno told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"God willing, there will be no more problems and the Indonesian people will continue to be able to watch the World Cup," he added.
Teguh said the country's oldest private television network had to select a number of games to broadcast each day to reduce the spillover from its satellite broadcasts into India, Singapore, Malaysia and several parts of Australia.
Consequently, the move has caused many Indonesian viewers dependent on reception via parabola to miss out on the international event, he added.
He argued that the spillover was unavoidable because the RCTI's satellite transponder's footprint spread into several parts of foreign countries, including India, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia.
Teguh apologized to disappointed Indonesian viewers for the channel disruption.
Previously, the House of Representatives lashed out at RCTI for ignoring the fate of 70 million Indonesians who were excluded from watching the games.
The affected 70 million viewers excluded many others who always relied on a parabola to receive a TV signal.
Legislators urged the private TV channel to share its rights with state broadcaster TVRI, which can reach more than 80 percent of the country's viewers.
"RCTI should be willing to collaborate with TVRI or other television networks so that the public's viewing rights can be adequately catered for," Bambang Sadono, a member of House Commission I, told a hearing with Minister of Information and Communications Syamsul Muarif on Thursday.