Two weeks after sports fans found out they would have to
sign up with SingTel if they wanted their dose of Uefa Cup and
Champions League football from next year, rival pay—TV operator
StarHub said it would be charging extra for viewer access to the
Euro 2008 matches.
A season pass for the tournament, to be held from June 8 to 30,
will cost S$10 (before GST) for StarHub Digital Cable Sports Group
subscribers if they sign up before May 9.
Those who sign up later will have to pay S$20, while non—Sports
Group customers can buy the pass for S$50. This comes after
subscription fees for the Sports Group were raised from S$15 to
S$25 in October.
During Euro 2004, when StarHub held the exclusive rights to 23
of the 31 matches, sports channel subscribers did not have to cough
up extra money to watch the tournament. So why the difference this
time, fans asked?
"Like most key sports properties, the Uefa Euro 2008 broadcast
rights did not come cheap," said StarHub’s head of services and
solutions, Adit Harinasuta, in a statement.
"Nonetheless, we are constantly looking at ways to reward our
loyal Sports Group customers with better value, and are pleased to
offer them significant savings with our early—bird discounts."
Unlike in 2004, matches will be streamed live across all three
StarHub platforms — cable TV, mobile and online — and in
high—definition format. There are also not one, but four dedicated
channels this time.
All viewers in Singapore will get to catch the four key games —
the opening match, both semi—finals and the final — for free.
Still, fans TODAY spoke to were unhappy at having to pay extra.
Civil servant Cai Chengji, 26, argued that winning the exclusive
rights for matches already guaranteed StarHub more sign—ups to its
Sports Group. He plans to give the Euro 2008 a miss in protest
against the "incessant increase in prices".
But healthcare manager Esther Tan said she might buy the season
pass. "The timing of the matches is usually early in the morning,
so to go somewhere like a pub to watch when you need to work the
next day is very inconvenient," she said.
