CAIRO: Al Jazeera Sports Channels denied an announcement by the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) that it apologized for accusing Egypt of jamming its World Cup transmission on the NileSat.
Head of the technical broadcasting unit at ERTU, Hamdy Mounir, said in an official statement to the press.that the Union had received an official apology from the Qatari channel Al Jazeera Sport for accusing Egypt of deliberately interrupting the transmission during the World Cup’s inaugural match last Friday.
In response, the managing director of Al Jazeera Sport, Nasser Al-Kholeifi, told MBC.net on Wednesday that Al Jazeera has not apologized to ERTU or any other organization in Egypt or elsewhere.
“Al Jazeera did not apologize to anybody in the past few hours and there is nothing the channel should apologize for,” Al-Kholeifi said. “Honestly, I’m surprised at what is said at the moment about Al Jazeera Sport apologizing to ERTU.”
“Regarding the interruption in the transmission during the past few days, legal procedures will take their natural course … We at Al Jazeera seek our rights in the first place without accusing anyone until everything is confirmed,” Al-Kholeifi explained.
Mounir said that the apology was the fruit of discussions over the past few days that proved that NileSat wasn’t in any way involved in the interruption of the transmission which took place.
During the World Cup’s inaugural match between South Africa and Mexico on Friday, technical disruptions had occurred on Al Jazeera.
In a statement issued late on Friday, Al Jazeera Sport, which has exclusive broadcasting rights of the event in the Arab world, said that transmission was deliberately jammed on the NileSat and Arabsat satellites and that the channel will identify and pursue those responsible for this "act of piracy," said Al-Kholeifi at the time.
"We apologize for the interruption that happened, it was because of satellite interference from an unknown source," he added.
Al-Kholeifi also said “Nilesat and Al Jazeera Sport are also looking into broadcasting the Al Jazeera channels airing World Cup games on more than one frequency on NileSat to ensure the visibility of the games."
In a statement Sunday, head of ERTU Osama El-Sheikh, said that the company will file a lawsuit against Al Jazeera Sports Channels for violating a contract on World Cup broadcast. He claimed Al Jazeera interrupted the transmission of the England-United States World Cup game for 10 minutes on Saturday and made false allegations against the Egyptian Satellite Company NileSat.
