Football fans keen to lap up some Samba magic were left seething with rage as several interruptions ruined Al Jazeera Sport’s live coverage of the World Cup Group G match between Brazil and North Korea last night.
Considering the fact that it was five-times champions Brazil’s first match of the tournament in South Africa, fans in Qatar had settled down on their sofas for what they thought would be an entertaining 90 minutes of action, only to be frustrated by signal problems at regular intervals, especially in the first half
“It was unbearable. Come to think of it Brazil were playing their first match of the World Cup against the North Koreans who are bit of a mystery, and what do we get? It was absolutely frustrating,” said Antonio Fernandez, a diehard Brazil fan.
Fernandez added that he regretted subscribing to Al Jazeera because his friends had no problems watching the match on ESPN, which holds rights in India, Pakistan and other parts of Asia.
“Now you know why thousands of expatriates in Qatar illegally have huge satellite dishes on their terraces. They get better coverage and service for a fraction of the money they pay in Qatar if they subscribe to providers such as Tata Sky and Sun TV.”
Another fan, who did not want to be named, vented his ire at the channel, saying it was unexpected of a network “which claims to represent the people of the region”.
“Al Jazeera is a network with vast resources and reach, so it’s really unbelievable that it can’t get its World Cup coverage right,” he said.
Al Jazeera, which holds the rights for the Middle East and parts of Africa, had said on the first day of the World Cup that saboteurs were trying to jam its signals. The network has received support from world football body FIFA and has launched an investigation, although a source close to it said yesterday that there were “no apparent external forces” involved in the disruptions in its service. He added that the network itself had “not confirmed” whether the interruptions were a result of a deliberate act.
Meanwhile, several websites in the UAE reported that football fans who had purchased faulty Al Jazeera viewing cards would be refunded by the channel’s agents.
Dr Hashim al-Nuaimi, director of consumer protection at UAE’s ministry of economy, told Arabic daily Al Ittihad that Al Jazeera officials had agreed to pay refunds for faulty cards.
Shihab al-Hashemi, a spokesman for the agents in the UAE, said that if any distributor refused to refund customers, Al Jazeera would take away his licence.
However, a top Al Jazeera official offered no comments when asked by Gulf Times if there was a similar move to refund customers in Qatar.
“I am not aware of any such move in the UAE and I certainly cannot comment on whether we will be giving a refund to subscribers in Qatar,” he said.
Football fans keen to lap up some Samba magic were left seething with rage as several interruptions ruined Al Jazeera Sport’s live coverage of the World Cup Group G match between Brazil and North Korea last night.
Considering the fact that it was five-times champions Brazil’s first match of the tournament in South Africa, fans in Qatar had settled down on their sofas for what they thought would be an entertaining 90 minutes of action, only to be frustrated by signal problems at regular intervals, especially in the first half
“It was unbearable. Come to think of it Brazil were playing their first match of the World Cup against the North Koreans who are bit of a mystery, and what do we get? It was absolutely frustrating,” said Antonio Fernandez, a diehard Brazil fan.
Fernandez added that he regretted subscribing to Al Jazeera because his friends had no problems watching the match on ESPN, which holds rights in India, Pakistan and other parts of Asia.
“Now you know why thousands of expatriates in Qatar illegally have huge satellite dishes on their terraces. They get better coverage and service for a fraction of the money they pay in Qatar if they subscribe to providers such as Tata Sky and Sun TV.”
Another fan, who did not want to be named, vented his ire at the channel, saying it was unexpected of a network “which claims to represent the people of the region”.
“Al Jazeera is a network with vast resources and reach, so it’s really unbelievable that it can’t get its World Cup coverage right,” he said.
Al Jazeera, which holds the rights for the Middle East and parts of Africa, had said on the first day of the World Cup that saboteurs were trying to jam its signals. The network has received support from world football body FIFA and has launched an investigation, although a source close to it said yesterday that there were “no apparent external forces” involved in the disruptions in its service. He added that the network itself had “not confirmed” whether the interruptions were a result of a deliberate act.
Meanwhile, several websites in the UAE reported that football fans who had purchased faulty Al Jazeera viewing cards would be refunded by the channel’s agents.
Dr Hashim al-Nuaimi, director of consumer protection at UAE’s ministry of economy, told Arabic daily Al Ittihad that Al Jazeera officials had agreed to pay refunds for faulty cards.
Shihab al-Hashemi, a spokesman for the agents in the UAE, said that if any distributor refused to refund customers, Al Jazeera would take away his licence.
However, a top Al Jazeera official offered no comments when asked by Gulf Times if there was a similar move to refund customers in Qatar.
“I am not aware of any such move in the UAE and I certainly cannot comment on whether we will be giving a refund to subscribers in Qatar,” he said.
source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=368504...
My comment: WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!