The New Paper
Sunday, May 13, 2012 <!-- CONTENT NEWS: start -->
First the English Premier League, and now the Spanish La
Liga.
Come next season, SingTel mio TV subscribers will be able catch
both European football leagues on the same network.
This was made possible after ESPN STAR Sports - a channel on mio
TV - announced that it secured exclusive rights to broadcast the
Spanish La Liga in Singapore yesterday. The deal will last for the
next three seasons - till the end of the 2014/15 campaign.
ESPN STAR Sports also announced it would show up to 250 live
Spanish games, with matches scheduled during the prime time hours
of 6pm to midnight.
Other than on television, La Liga fans can also catch the
matches online on ESPN Player and on Mobile ESPN, with the option
to watch the games in 3D.
SingTel also confirmed there are currently no plans to change
pricing for the sports pack, even with the additional content.
Bad news
But this comes as bad news for StarHub subscribers, despite the
Media Development Authority's new cross-carriage law - which
requires pay-TV operators to share exclusive content with their
rivals.
This is because the tie-up between SingTel mio TV and ESPN STAR
Sports was announced in October 2009 - before the cross-carriage
ruling was implemented.
The New Paper understands that any content that ESPN STAR Sports
acquires is hence not subjected to the cross-carriage rule.
Said StarHub's Vice President of Home Solutions & Content
Iris Wee: "We have made careful considerations before we decided to
forego the La Liga.
"But football fans can still catch the Bundesliga, J-League, and
the World Cup 2014 Qualifiers for South American and European Zones
on our network."