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WITH just a day to go before the new Premier League season kicks off tomorrow, fans in Shanghai are left ruing their luck with no television broadcasting deals in place yet.
Netizens are better off however after it was revealed that Sina.com and TV.QQ.com would "relay" the Premier and Italy's Serie A matches.
Wintv Digital TV Development Ltd, which holds the Premier League rights on the Chinese mainland for the next three seasons, has yet to agree on cooperation terms with the Oriental Cable Network Co. Ltd, the city's main cable TV service provider.
In February this year, Wintv outbid American giant ESPN and five other rivals with a whopping US$50-million offer to clinch the rights to broadcast in China from 2007 to 2010.
The Guangdong-based operator manages a 24-hour European soccer channel which not only broadcasts five major European leagues, but also airs Cups and Championships, besides Dutch and Portuguese leagues.
For the last five years, ESPN had the Premier League rights for Asia and then entered into separate deals with various domestic channels.
Shanghai fans were able to watch European games on CCTV-5 and G-Sports - all free of cost.
All that, however, is about to change now.
According to Wintv, fans will have to subscribe with their local cable TV operators watch European games. The monthly charges are 188 yuan (US$25) or 388 yuan for six months or 588 yuan for a year.
Oriental Cable Network could not be reached yesterday to ascertain the status of the ongoing talks with Wintv.
On Wednesday, Beijing Huage Cable TV sealed a deal with Wintv, thus becoming the 58th city to televise the games in China. Guangzhou, Dalian, Qingdao, Tianjin, Kunming, Nanjing, Hangzhou are among the other cities to reach similar deals.
The matches will be however available on the Internet on Sina.com or TV.QQ.com, or on the cellphones from 3G.net.cn.
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