Andorra vs England WC Qualifying: Not Available on Terrestrial Television Channels?
For live score of the match visit this entry:
Andorra vs England World Cup 2010 Qualifying: Live Score
You already know that Andorra vs England 2010 world cup qualifying match will be telecast live on Setanta Sports, an Ireland based pay-per-view television channel. Setanta holds the exclusive broadcasting right of England’s away qualifying matches. That means, English fans must have to subscribe to Setanta Sports to watch the match live from Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium on 6 September 2008.
Well, when England’s away match is aired on a pay-per-view television channel, the highlights of the match is usually shown later on a terrestrial television channel like BBC, ITV etc. However, this time it seems that Andorra vs England match will not be aired on a terrestrial channel because neither BBC not ITV could yet to come to terms with Setanta Sports to secure the rights of broadcasting the highlights. So, for the first time the highlights of an important match will not be shown on terrestrial television channels.
Setanta Sports claims that BBC and ITV are trying to blackmail emotionally by lodging an offer which is just a fraction of the total value of a possible deal. Traditionally, pay-TV operators make a deal with BBC or ITV to show the highlights of the match. However, Setanta Sports could make with neither of the channels yet. Trevor East, director of sports, Setanta Sports, said that they had received official offer from one of the channels yet, and the offer is even lower than the amount BBC and ITV paid for the Champions league qualifier.
However, ITV and BBC are accusing Setanta Sports of making no realistic attempt to show the highlights of the match so that more viewers would subscribe to its pay-per-view service. I do not know if the dispute between the pay-TV operator and terrestrial TV operators would come to end and England fans would be able to enjoy the highlights of the match on either BBC or ITV. However, the possibility of solving the dispute seems less likely to happen. I hope Setanta Sports as well as BBC and ITV will sort out the problem in what England fans will get to watch the highlights of the match.
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