Soccer: a soon-to-be expensive hobby
[Ed.’s notes: Olivia, our Y.O! blogger, shares her views on the woes currently plaguing soccer fans who get their weekly fix via cable. It does seem like fans would just have to fork out that little bit extra to support their favorite teams in all the various league matches.
That would mean, for example, watching Liverpool play their EPL game on one cable network and then their Champions League match on another network. It’s still cheaper than buying a ticket to Europe to catch the matches live, no?]
Just barely a year after Starhub jacked up its sports telecasting prices, soccer-loving Singaporeans will again have to face a similar set back in the near future. After acquiring the services of Starhub, it would still be impossible for them to watch all games at their own discretion. Following the unforeseen transfer of broadcasting rights of the UEFA Champions League to Singtel’s MioTV, Singaporeans would soon have to pay for both Starhub’s and Singtel’s services to view the same teams in action.
This deregulation is unbecoming of the pay-TV market. While opening this market to further competition was supposed to cut the slack in cost control and inject a crucial element of competition, it appears to have backfired. Consumers now have to pay more for what originally could have been settled in a single bill. Moreover, the quality of television feeds may not even be improved, as each broadcaster is ultimately still a monopoly of the competition it is televising.
Deregulation which fails to bring effective competitive pressures would not bring consumers any benefit, and might even erode the welfare of these subscribers. For the many avid soccer fans out there, there is little that they can do besides bemoaning how a simple passion has developed into an ever-growing hole in their wallets.
Contributed by Ong Xiu Hui Olivia, 18
Y.O! blogger
Thoughts expressed in the post are those of the author. NLB does not necessarily share or endorse the views of contributing writers. Minimal editing has been done to present the contribution in its original form as much as possible.
Agree or disagree with Olivia? Leave your comments or submit y.o!ur say to showteens@nlb.gov.sg
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