World Cup fans angered at telecast failures

Monday, 21 June 2010 13:17 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese football fans are up in arms, but they are not doing the Mexican wave, after failure by local stations to broadcast World Cup football matches on consecutive days last week, according to would-be viewers.

The military-backed television station Myawaddy and the state-run MRTV have broadcast two matches and one match respectively each day of the soccer tournament in South Africa from its start on June 11, but from June 16, Myawaddy has encountered technical problems and failed to screen the competition.

“They [Broadcasters] promised us more than they could deliver. They said they would broadcast all of the 64 matches but they can never keep their word”, a football fan in Rangoon told Mizzima.

Moe San Pan Media, which is sponsoring the live broadcasts on MRTV and Myawaddy TV, confirmed the stations’ technical problems. The media firm is owned by Zaw Min Aye, a son of the chairman of Union of Myanmar Economics Holdings (UMEHL), Lieutenant General Tin Aye.

“There is a technical problem between the Fifa transmitter and our receiver. About 11 engineers are trying to solve the glitch”, a Moe San Pan Media technician told Mizzima, referring to world football’s governing body, which runs the contest.

On June 16, state-run MRTV and military owned Myawaddy stopped broadcasting the matches but the former returned to live broadcasting the next day.

Because of Myawaddy’s failure, football fans in Rangoon were forced into bars and tea shops with satellite televisions to follow the action. However fans in rural areas without satellite televisions were infuriated without that option.

“Previously, we had arrived at the village monastery, which has a television set, to watch the soccer matches from around 5:30 p.m.,” a football fan from Hnawkan village, Natmout Township, Magway Division told Mizzima. “Currently, I don’t know what to do when the clock strikes six every evening. I can’t decide whether I should drink green tea or visit a neighbour’s house.”

The village has about 100 homes and there is only one television, which is owned by the monastery.

A resident from Pegu (Bago) and his friend had bought a generator to produce electricity during power cuts so they could watch the fixtures uninterrupted. Now they felt very angry with the government because of the failures, he said.

The licence to broadcast World Cup soccer matches live was purchased from Yangon Entertainment by Moe San Pan Media. The company refused to disclose the price.