I’M amazed by the uproar over the football no-show on DStv.
People are more emotionally devastated that if their wife left them – I guess that is logical if they love football considerably more than her. Surely even the most unsophisticated football fan realises that TV channels only broadcast matches and anything else if they have the rights to do so, and to get rights they have to sign contracts and stump up millions of bucks.Where else would the English Premier league players get their million pound a week salaries from? So what happened obviously is that DStv got outbid by another channel and so does not have the rights any more.Cancel your DStv sub if you like but don’t get emotionally involved: it’s just business.Actually the new channel which got the rights is promising to launch in Namibia soon and offer subscriptions substantially lower than DStv, which is good news from the point of view of breaking the monopoly that DStv has held for far too long.DStv can now broadcast the Guatemalan league if they like: just not the English one.So football fans, please just wait for the new channel and in the meanwhile get a life.(Or watch ‘Big Brother’).By the way, I cannot help wondering if, instead of spending millions of dollars on TV rights to watch foreign players, even good ones, playing matches 10 000 km away, what would happen if we spent the money upgrading our own shambolic football structures and standards.Then it would be worth watching our own matches instead of the EPL.Another Football Fan, Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided – EdSurely even the most unsophisticated football fan realises that TV channels only broadcast matches and anything else if they have the rights to do so, and to get rights they have to sign contracts and stump up millions of bucks.Where else would the English Premier league players get their million pound a week salaries from? So what happened obviously is that DStv got outbid by another channel and so does not have the rights any more.Cancel your DStv sub if you like but don’t get emotionally involved: it’s just business.Actually the new channel which got the rights is promising to launch in Namibia soon and offer subscriptions substantially lower than DStv, which is good news from the point of view of breaking the monopoly that DStv has held for far too long.DStv can now broadcast the Guatemalan league if they like: just not the English one.So football fans, please just wait for the new channel and in the meanwhile get a life.(Or watch ‘Big Brother’).By the way, I cannot help wondering if, instead of spending millions of dollars on TV rights to watch foreign players, even good ones, playing matches 10 000 km away, what would happen if we spent the money upgrading our own shambolic football structures and standards.Then it would be worth watching our own matches instead of the EPL.Another Football Fan, Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided – Ed
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