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The Asian Cup has never been as popular with the Lebanese public as this year. It is true that football is the first popular game in Lebanon, but the interest of the Lebanese public is often focused on the world championships. From the World Cup to the European Cup, through the Champions League, to the five major European Championships. These tournaments are the absolute priority of the Lebanese public. It means watching these games on TV.
Today, a new tournament has entered the Lebanese account: the Asian Football Cup. The continental tournament, which began last Saturday in the United Arab Emirates and will run until February 1, will be different for the Lebanese public from previous versions. In this tournament, Lebanon is part of the 24 teams in the running, the interest for this tournament is different. As part of the exclusive rights of major tournaments in the televised transport sector, the Lebanese public asked a big question: how are we going to watch the matches?
Is this the question that was asked earlier with the World Cup. At the time, the situation was normal at the governmental level and the monitoring of the World Cup by the Lebanese public was a priority, resolved by the Lebanese television and by negotiations between the Lebanese government and Sama, the rights holder. in Liban.
In the current Asian Cup, the Lebanese public had three ideas on how to follow the matches. Lebanon TV, MTV TV as exclusive carrier of the Lebanese league football matches, and is interested in the transfer of the team matches in the continuation of this cooperation and attention to Lebanese football . The third option was through BEINSPORTS, the country's sports channel with rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
"MTV" has started long-standing negotiations with the Qatari TV channel to secure the rights to broadcast Lebanon's matches with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. Things were going well for the games of Qatar and North Korea. The Saudi match has special accounts for the Qatari channel. The negotiations seemed to indicate that the channel did not want to sell the rights of a match to the Saudi team and continue to watch exclusively on the Qatari channel. The reason is perhaps to force the Saudis to follow their national team on a Qatari channel to obtain political accounts of the Saudi-Qatar conflict that has been going on for months.
Qatar and North Korea have remained close to their transfer rights on the Lebanese channel. The new twist of things upside down. BEINSPORTS set up an encrypted package for the Asian Cup, similar to what it did at the World Cup. Subscribers to this channel must pay additional fees for this package. This forced negotiations between the Lebanese channel and the Qatari channel on the grounds that it had set a financial goal for them to reach before selling the rights to other stations. Thirty million is the amount you want to collect "BEINSPORTS" before badigning rights to other channels. That's why we talk to MTV until new developments emerge.
The government can not negotiate the transfer of matches via Lebanese television because it is in commercial phase
Therefore, the Lebanese public has two options: the Qatari channel and Lebanon TV. For the first option, the package can only be purchased for people who have subscribed to the Qatari channel. Contact the qatari channel in Doha The answering machine answers that all lines are busy. You try several times before you manage to talk to the delegate who tells you that the package of the Asian Cup with its four encrypted channels costs $ 25. In Beirut, the price is very similar when you contact Al Khatib with the addition of three dollars to VAT, that is to say that the cost is $ 28 more to watch the Asian Cup.
But what does an audience do that does not have a private subscription? Only cable or Lebanese television channels have access to it. The first option is not accessible to all, some stations not broadcasting "BEINSPORTS" channels, but others broadcasting them. For the second option, things seem complicated and do not look like what happened at the World Cup.
At the Ministry of Youth and Sports, there is no question of transferring matches to Lebanese television. The World Cup experience can not be repeated now for logistical reasons, according to a ministry source. Then there was a government and a cabinet meeting. At that time, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Fneish, had launched the issue of public monitoring of the World Cup on Lebanese television, where a committee of three ministers had been formed: media, communication, youth and sports to follow the question.
At present, there is no meeting, the government during the period of business and the subject of broadcast matches mainly related to the Minister of Information, Melhem Riachi. The Council of Ministers must decide to designate a party to negotiate with the Qatari channel or its representative on behalf of the Lebanese government. The presentation of the games or their sale in Lebanon will be through the Lebanese State on Lebanese television, which can not happen with an interim government. Saad Hariri, his boss, limited to a minimum the work that could be done. As a result, no agreement could be reached or no contract signed by a minister of an interim government, the source said. Oil contracts, for example, were concluded on an exceptional basis and according to a Lebanese "scenario".
In Lebanon, Hbadan Chakour, director of production and programs, was speaking about the affair and the possibility of transferring games to the national screen, especially since the transfer of the World Cup had been a great success and allowed the Lebanese to follow games at no cost. "Stakes 50-50. Nothing indicates up to now the possibility of a transfer of matches despite the existence of discussions between the Ministry of Information and the Presidency of the Government ". "We are discussing with BEIN," said Minister Riachi in his interview with Al Akhbar. In Shaqour's view, the problem is hindered by a number of things. The government does not exist. "If the vertical political divide and the economic and financial anxiety remain difficult to address now, especially if there is a financial cost to buy for the rights," said Chakour.
According to Lebanon Television's director of production and programs, the cost of retransmitting matches in Lebanon is only $ 1 million. "The broadcast of the tournament in general may require only four times the price of matches in Lebanon," said Chakour Al Akhbar.
The figures may seem surprising, but a record of the World Cup experience and the purchase of rights to Lebanon TV on the terrestrial channel gives only an idea of the amount of funds needed to buy the rights to broadcast the matches. Shahkor reveals that the cost of purchasing the rights of the World Cup has reached $ 10 million: MTC has paid $ 4 million, Alfa 3 million, the advertising agency has won the rights of Lebanon Television and $ 2 million Other sources.
At each international event, the Lebanese public watches the football matches and is still waiting for a government initiative or an attempt by the Lebanese state to transfer the matches, help them provide a high participation allowance and relieve the citizen in the difficult economic conditions of the country.
Lebanon will play its first match tomorrow with Qatar in Group E. It seems that the Lebanese public can only see them on the BEIN channels, but two matches can be broadcast on Lebanese television, but the chances are low and the time press, and political priorities are greater than the transfer of football matches on the national screen, even if the national team concords.
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