SCTV inks exclusive rights for World Cup

SCTV inks exclusive rights for World Cup

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV) has become the exclusive and
official TV broadcast partner in Indonesia for the FIFA World Cup
2006, according to a release here on Wednesday.

The partnership, which gave SCTV exclusive rights to air the
matches live, was confirmed following the signing of the contract
between SCTV and Infront Sports & Media WM GMBH, a German-based
worldwide World Cup distributor here on Wednesday.

The month-long 2006 World Cup will run from June 9 to July 9
in Germany with 32 nations represented.

With SCTV being the sole broadcaster here, not all 64 matches
can be shown live as several are played at the same time.

"All 64 matches in the 2006 World Cup will be broadcast,
either live or tape-delayed, if there is a time conflict with one
or more matches," said SCTV President Director Wisnu Hadi said in
a press release here on Wednesday.

The 2006 World Cup matches will be staged in a number of
cities with Munich hosting the opening match and Berlin playing
host to the final match.

SCTV's competitor, Rajawali Citra Televisi (RCTI) had the
exclusive broadcast rights of the 2002 World Cup held in Korea
and Japan.

Most soccer fanatics here would, however, prefer that more
than one TV station gets the broadcast rights so all the matches
can be shown live.

Several local fans lamented the fact that TV producers would
be deciding which match they would get to see live.

"If TV stations shared the rights to broadcast the matches
live, then I would not need to wait for the tape-delayed version
and I would get the choice of which game to watch," said Putro, a
local soccer fan.

During the 2002 World Cup, RCTI ordered cafes, restaurants and
sports bars to request permission from station to show the games,
arguing that it had to protect its sponsors.