Football fans livid over missing Champions League ‘live’ telecasts

Football fans here were left frustrated yesterday morning, after being unable to watch some big Champions League matches live on TV.

The elite European club competition's group-stage action kicked off yesterday.

But, unlike previous seasons when more than one match was shown live at the same time, there was only one game at each time slot - the Inter Milan v Slavia Prague match at 1am and the Napoli v Liverpool game at 3am.

The big clash between Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, and Chelsea's opener against Valencia on their return to the elite competition, were shown later yesterday.

Fans who were unable to watch those two matches live took to social media to express their disappointment.

Those whom The New Paper spoke to protested at being left short-changed.

A check on the telcos' respective sites showed that an existing StarHub TV subscriber can sign up for the Sports Group at $21.40 per month while a Sports Plus package with Singtel starts at $49.90 per month.

Nur Shafinah, 28, a Dortmund fan, said she was "livid". She revealed that she pays about $112 per month for StarHub cable TV services, which include the sports group content.

She said: "After the draw was made, a lot of people were talking about how the Barcelona-Dortmund game is one not to be missed.

"So, imagine the disappointment. I just feel so cheated, thinking that I'd be able to watch my favourite team play - only to find out at the last minute that it wasn't being shown live."

Said Mohammad Akram, 42, a Chelsea fan : "Over the last few years, there have always been at least two or three matches being shown at the same time.

"I was so angry that I could not watch it live especially when I had looked forward to it all day.

"I pay a hefty sum for football content but ultimately, I have to rely on illegal streams. It's unfair. What am I paying for?"

Manchester United fan S. Puvanen had wanted to catch Dortmund's game against Barcelona but settled for Napoli's 2-0 win over Liverpool. The 35-year-old said: "I hope these telcos can give us value for money."

It seems that the fans' frustrations may not be in vain.

When contacted by TNP, a beIN spokesman said: "We are truly sorry to hear about their frustrations.

"Our partners have the option of taking the additional games that we are not able to include on our channel.

"We are working with them to ensure more games are being offered on their respective platforms from matchday 2 onwards."

The spokesman also referred TNP to its beIN Sports Connect platform, where fans can subscribe to watch live matches at various price plans.

Contacted by TNP, both StarHub and Singtel said that they would be "working closely" with beIN to show more live matches in the coming weeks.

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