SMG in World Cup TV wrangle
- Source: Global Times
- [10:21 June 21 2010]
- Comments
Soccer fans watch the Mexico versus South Africa game at the South Africa Pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on June 11. Photo: ICBy Chen Xiaoru
The future of FIFA 2010 World Cup coverage on SMG Sports Channel, the local sports channel run by Shanghai Media Group, is uncertain after state broadcaster and FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights holder CCTV accused the channel of showing games without permission.
SMG Sports had shown every match of the tournament until the Cameroon versus Denmark match at 2:30 am on Sunday morning, which was not shown as scheduled.
"SMG Sports only bought the rights to 10 games, and have been stealing the signal from us for a long time," Su Ling, the director of the marketing department of CCTV's sports channel, CCTV-5, told the Global Times Sunday.
According to Su, SMG Sports found the price of the broadcasting rights too high, and only bought the rights to 10 group stage games at 500,000 yuan ($73,242) per game. A lawyer from CCTV-5 has served notice on SMG Sports to stop broadcasting World Cup games, according to Su.
An official from SMG Sports, who was not willing to reveal his name, confirmed to the Global Times Sunday that there had been "some disagreement" between SMG Sports and CCTV-5 over the price of the broadcasting rights. "SMG Sports is currently working to resolve the issue, but we do not know if we will continue to broadcast the tournament," he said.
Eastday.com, a Shanghai-based news portal, Sunday quoted an anonymous official with SMG Sports, who claimed that CCTV-5 had been obstructing SMG Sport's attempts to purchase World Cup rights.
It is usual practice for CCTV to represent China when buying the broadcasting rights to major international sports events. The broadcaster then resells the rights to local TV stations.
"SMG Sports has signed a contract and bought 10 games for a total of 5,000,000 yuan ($732,420). However, CCTV cut the signal after three games, and refused to provide the seven other games included in the contract," said the anonymous SMG Sports official.
According to Su, unlike previous World Cups, CCTV-5 will not be selling broadcasting rights to knockout stage games to any other stations.
The fact that SMG Sports may not be broadcasting any more World Cup games has caused consternation among Shanghai's soccer fans.
"I am surprised and upset to learn that SMG Sports is not broadcasting the games any more," Feng Wenjie, a 26-year-old soccer fan, told the Global Times Sunday. "It is too bad that I have to shift to CCTV-5, as their sports commentators suck."
A poster on KDS, a popular online community among locals, using the handle "heejun0718" said he refused to watch the tournament on CCTV-5, even if that meant missing out on the World Cup.
However, there was a sign that an agreement may have been made behind the scenes, as SMG Sports broadcast last night's game between Italy and New Zealand at 10 pm.
