Sabotage to blame for World Cup fiasco - Al Jazeera

NO SIGNAL: Problems hit the big screen at one of the special World Cup showings in Dubai.

Al Jazeera Sport, which suffered major technical problems during its broadcast of the FIFA World Cup to Middle East viewers, has blamed "a deliberate act of sabotage".

Its exclusive coverage of the South Africa versus Mexico match on Friday was hit by regular transmission problems with fan across the region unable to enjoy the spectacle.

“Al Jazeera Sport would like to condemn the actions of those involved in the deliberate attempts to block its signal during its World Cup broadcasts yesterday,” Al Jazeera Sport said in a statement published by media in Qatar on Saturday.

“Despite its considerable efforts to bring the best coverage to the most possible fans across the Middle East and North Africa including 18 free-to-air games from the group stages, Al Jazeera Sport viewers repeatedly lost their signal through the course of yesterday’s opening fixture,” the statement added.

“This loss of signal was completely beyond Al Jazeera Sport’s control and they share in the frustrations of all those whose enjoyment was spoiled by what was a deliberate act of sabotage.”

Football fans across the Middle East cried foul on Friday as the start of Al Jazeera's broadcast of the FIFA World Cup was hit by blank screens. Fans across Dubai, including thousands watching at special events across the emirate, reported technical problems.

Hundreds of fans also complained about the problems on Twitter.

Technical problems hit the beginning of the coverage by the Qatar based TV station with its special World Cup channels frozen or broadcasting in the wrong language in a number of countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt.

For most of the first half an hour of the first game between hosts South Africa and Mexico, viewers were left with no picture or a frozen screen.

The issues appeared to have been sorted out shortly before half time but problems persisted throughout the second half of the match.

Broadcasts on the English language channel morphed into French commentary from the start and then the channel went blank. The English commentary only appeared much later in the first half of the game.

The only coverage working throughout was the HD channel broadcasting in Arabic only.

Broadcasting rights across the region are owned by Al Jazeera Sport, and can currently be accessed either by purchasing an Al Jazeera Sports card or through Etisalat’s pay TV E-Vision.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Shambolic service
Posted by Anthony on Wednesday 7 July 2010 at 11:12 UAE time


Yet again we have been struck by poor broadcasting, it appears I have paid 300 AED to be frustrated. How on earth can Qatar possibly host the 2022 cup if they can't even provide a decent broadcast.

poorest coverage and TV chennel: Al-Jazeera Sports
Posted by singh, jeddah on Friday 2 July 2010 at 19:56 UAE time


I bought the card, i am unable to watch most of the games in a quality tv coverage.
If al jazeera is unable to provide me the world cup signal, then why they charge the fans with the cost of the card.
Brazil-Netherland game stops at all the key moments,,,,PATHETIC.

Waht is all thie fuss about?
Posted by Aiman, Muscat, Oman on Monday 21 June 2010 at 13:22 UAE time


I bought Al Jazeera card on the 2 or 3rd day of the world cup tournament and I have been watching most the matches on Nilesat free of interference since.
2 - 3 matches were interrupted (eg. Last Algeria vs. England) for which I switched to the new channel set by Al Jazeera to counter for the interruption to the regular channel.
My experience has been totally satisfactory.

No excuse!!
Posted by ahmad on Monday 21 June 2010 at 10:39 UAE time


Sabotage cannot be an excuse to the money they have collected from the subscribers... they have to be able to manage every single issue and provide the event with no compromise... if we are going to give the benefit of doubt and compassionate with Al Jazeera, who is going to be compassionate with us for the money we give!!!!

No wonder people are using DTH from India... one of my colleague is using receiver from India for which he has paid only AED 300 annual subscription for all the sports channels which includes Worldcup matches as well plus uninterrupted coverage...
agreed its so called illegal (!!), but when you are forced to pay exorbidant amounts and on top of that you dont get proper coverage here what do you do ???????????

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