Fans waiting for a fair go from TV broadcaster

 DIGICEL’S partnership with NBC to have NRL and State of Origin games on free-to-air TV is a positive step. 

At the end of the day fans just want to see games with out too much fuss.

Since the mobile phone operator weighed into the television industry over 18 months ago it has been anything but straight forward.

Digicel acquired the rights to broadcast the NRL and other rugby league products for 2016 and apparently the following year under the nose of previous boardcaster EM TV.

The biggest issue with with fans wanting to watch rugby league games now is that they are required to buy a decoder (Play Box) in order to get the signal from Digicel’s TV WAN. Decoders retail between K50 and K90.

The problem with this is that it has effectively taken viewing from the realms of the free-to-air television market into the pay TV market. 

Despite what Digicel says about their so-called “free-to-view” service, high definition, and selection options available on their platform, the bottom line is they have cornered the market and are in a position to exact a premium, of their chosing, for a product that should never have been on this platform in the first place. 

NRL and State of Origin are staples for the PNG sports fan and should be on free-to-air TV. Period.

If Digicel wants to earn the goodwill of league fans and more importantly subscibers, it should put ‘live’ NRL and SOO on FTA TV.

By all means they can offer Q-Cup, Super Rugby, NBA, English soccer, AFL and even the Digicel Cup on their subscribing channels but they should leave the country’s most popular sport well alone.

It is not clear just what kind of arrangement TV WAN and NBC will have in broadcasting NRL an Origin games this year but hopefully we do not get delayed broadcasts on the FTA TV. 

That would be intolerable.