Millions to miss seeing it on national television
Agence France-Presse
CAIRO: Watching this year s World Cup tournament could turn out to be an expensive experience for millions of Egyptian fans after talks to broadcast the event freely on state television hit a snag. The government continued Thursday to negotiate a deal with the Arab Radio and Television (ART) to transmit all matches to the public for free via terrestrial channels, but officials said a deal was unlikely. The Saudi-owned satellite channel bought the exclusive broadcast rights for the entire region and demanded that Egypt pay up to $5.2 million to relay the matches, a figure the Egyptians considered exorbitant. We requested an offer from them, but they did not respond, the state-owned Al-Ahram daily quoted head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Ahmed Anis, on Wednesday as saying. So on what basis shall we negotiate anyway? he asked Egypt may have failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany, but football remains the country s number one sport and many still hope for a last-minute miracle, enabling them to view the games at home with their families. I heard that the government was trying very hard to get the matches for us on television. I hope it works , Mohammed Raouf, a 50-year-old shopkeeper in the Cairo district of Dokki told AFP. Officials said they tried hard, but only managed to secure a deal to obtain broadcast for a 25-minute summary of the day s events. If we really won t be able to watch the football, it will be a disaster, Ibrahim Ahmed Al Sayed, 34, a vehicle mechanic, said. Only ART subscribers, who number less than a million out of the country s population of some 73 million people, and subscribers to satellite channels carrying the event, will be able to view the matches live from Germany. The majority of the people will have to follow the matches on giant screens set up mostly by businessmen and MPs or at sports bars, clubs, hotels and coffee shops. Egyptians love football and most Egyptians can t afford ART. You have to pay for ART, Kamal Mostafa, a 34-year-old security guard at the upmarket neighborhood of Mohandiseen. They are said to be paying ART between $120 and $225 to watch the matches, a price beyond the reach of the majority of ordinary people. We ll have to find a coffee shop that has subscription, but they are probably going to charge us much more for the tea, Mostafa said. Coffee shop owners, who rushed en masse to sign on to ART s 2006 World Cup channel, see this as a bonanza and are already planning the best way to maximize income during the month-long tournament. Some are considering selling tickets to patrons during matches. Others are expected to increase prices by three to four times and encourage those interested in watching to buy or find another venue. It s ok, we got used to life being difficult. I love football. I don t understand; did the government forget there was going to be a World Cup? Hisham Amin, a Cairo cab driver, inquired dejectedly. Why didn t they organize themselves before? he wondered. Life is difficult enough everyday, the matches are the only fun we have left, Sayed said.
