JULY 1.
That’s the date set for when Radio TV Malaysia (RTM) will stop broadcasting its channels on Astro. To non-football fans, the news would probably be greeted with a nonchalant “so what?”
But to lovers of the beautiful game, that date just smacks of the national broadcaster flexing its muscles after it successfully bid for the rights to screen the upcoming World Cup (June 11-July 19).
Local football fans, including former Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications deputy director Datuk Eric See-To who are looking forward to the expanded tournament featuring 48 teams and a total of 104 games will thus not be able to enjoy the business end of the competition on Astro platforms.
Grousing on his Facebook page, the loyalist of disgraced ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak was non-plussed that he will not have the convenience of watching the Copa Mundial on his fave broadcaster.
After snatching the broadcasting rights to the football bonanza that is set to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US, the Madani critic argued that RTM’s move was selfish and designed to inconvenience football fans.
It was claimed that many would have been looking forward to catching the world’s most watched sporting event on “the usual Astro platforms”.
Labelling the ploy a “corporate mafia tactic”, the See-To who previously blogged under hus moniker Lim Sian See declared that this was not the way “to force citizens to switch platforms, download the RTMKlik app, be Unifi customers or even install an antenna for their TV sets”.
With the tournament kicking off in a matter of weeks, it was no surprise that the post has gained plenty of traction with 3.3K likes, 534 comments and 270 shares at the time of publication.
For good measure, the poster snidely enquired if the World Cup would also serve as a Madani propaganda tool with faces of ministers and party logos making an appearance during telecasts?
There were some like-minded footie fans who seemed slighted by this inconvenience.
However, on the flipside there were those who saw subscribing to Astro as a waste of money. “RTMKlik is free,” it was quite rightly pointed out. Another proclaimed good riddance to Astro as it was perceived to be a “greedy and arrogant company”.
Echoing this sentiment, one observer claimed that despite high subscription fees and years of monopoly, Astro failed to bid for the biggest sporting event of the year.
Seeking clarification, one commenter argued that the poster had previously claimed Malaysians no longer subscribed to Astro which brought a retort from the poster outlining the numbers.
Some will see RTM as a selfish dinosaur that has only crept back into relevance because of the World Cup.
Others will claim that Astro is no better and should be shut down for its uncompetitive rates. As ordinary Malaysians struggling with a cost-of-living crisis, just be thankful that they will be able to catch the extravaganza for free. – Focus Malaysia
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.