Caption Pic: CEO of Digicel Play, Ralph Siebenaler, with media personnel at the press conference on Monday.



By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, September 6, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)



FOLLOWING Digicel Play’s announcement having secured broadcasting rights of the much loved Australian National Rugby League match telecasts- the backlash from the general public was immediate with social networks such as Facebook regarding seizure of local free to air television provider EMTV’s broadcasting rights.

According to the television services provider, their acquisition of the NRL broadcast rights for Papua New Guinea includes rights to NRL Premiership League, the State of Origin Series, the All-Stars Match, the ANZAC Test and the Under-20’s competition (Holden Cup) from now until the end of 2017 to be telecasted on its TVWAN Rugby Channel.

With an outcry from the general public following the announcement, many NRL fans of the rugby league mad country went into public forums online to voice their anger at the announcement, which will see them fork out close to K200 to purchase Digicel Playbox receivers in order to receive the free signal of TVWAN Rugby.

In a released statement on EMTV’s official Facebook page, the television station responded to the announcement.
“It has come to the notice of EMTV that other broadcasters here in Papua New Guinea have recently announced that they have purchased broadcasting rights for the National Rugby League (NRL) competition.”
“As exclusive broadcaster for the NRL for the past 28 years, bringing NRL to Papua New Guinea through our free-to-air services, our commitment to our viewers and advertisers continues.”
“Our understanding remains that we hold exclusive NRL broadcast rights for 2015 through to 2017. We have not been aware of any formal tender process.”
“We have sought clarification from both the NRL and IMG, as their agents, and until such time as we receive clarification on this matter, we will continue with our usual free-to-air NRL programming. This means, that NRL fans will get their NRL coverage for free, without having to pay for it.”

When contacted regarding the statement by EMTV- Digicel Play CEO Ralph Siebenaler confirmed that the rights were secured after the submission of a successful bid to relevant rights authorities.

He also added optimistically that dialogue was currently taking place that would see EMTV continue its broadcasts for the remainder of the NRL season.

“Digicel would like to respond to media reports regarding the future coverage of NRL games in Papua New Guinea, after our announcement on Monday that we had secured the rights to NRL games until 2017,” Siebenaler stated.

“The rights were secured after submitting an ultimately successful bid to broadcast the matches through TVWAN Rugby which will be free-to-view on Digicel Play.”

“Right now we are in the midst of positive negotiations with the current broadcaster EMTV to structure a plan in regards to broadcasting NRL matches for the rest of the season including the Finals.”

We are very optimistic that we will reach an agreement whereby the 2015 Finals will be accessible through both channels.”