Sunday, June 13, 2010

Paid for but not delivered.

A service paid for by consumers isn't delivered. The non-supplier says it's not his fault, doesn't mention compensation.

Shock! Horror! Surely not!

In reality it's not an unusual situation in this area by any stretch of the imagination.

This time it's the exclusive World Cup TV coverage supplied by Al Jazeera Sport to the region.

Or more accurately, partly supplied.

There are reports from across the region of people who've paid hard-earned money to watch the games but not getting what they've paid for.

Almost half of the opening match between hosts South Africa and Mexico was lost. Next day about half the Argentina-Nigeria match was also lost.

Frozen screens, garbled pictures, wrong language was what the punters received for their outlay.

"We're being sabotaged" say Al Jazeera.

Hackers have been mentioned but the fun stuff comes with the conspiracy theories.

Al Jazeera Sport have blamed Nilesat, accusing them of 'an act of piracy by causing intentional disruption'.

Egyptian Radio & Television Union, which owns 40 percent of Nilesat, responded with their own conspiracy theory - that Al Jazeera might have decided to punish Nilesat 10 minutes after the first disruption by claiming that its causes were unknown and requesting its viewers to move to other providers, such as Arabsat, Hotbird and Noorsat.

Nasser Al Khelaifi, GM of Al Jazeera Sport, says that Al Jazeera is working with "a number of international specialised companies" to track down the culprits and that he was confident they would be be found soon.

That's nice.

Meanwhile, the problem needs to be sorted out so that people who've paid to watch the matches can actually see them. In full. In the right language.

I assume it's far too much to hope that a discount based on what's not delivered is in the pipeline.



There are plenty of reports in the region's media, here are some:
Gulf News.
Arab News.
Arabian Business.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks god I have the DSL receiver that opens all locked and premium channels...

Jazeera channel gone!!!! cool, switched immediately to the premium swiss sports channels on hotbird and watch the game live :D

now that is a service that works :D

Thats What I Said said...

paid for but not delivered (your post today)

delivered but not paid for (your post yesterday)

borrowed and restructured (many posts incl November 26, 2009)

pocket the money and run (BlueBanana June 26, 2009)

take the service illegally (thief commenting today)

is any business in Dubai making even a fil profit

Seabee said...

Times are tough for a lot of companies, and not always their fault as I said yesterday. But there are also well run companies making millions or billions.

James O'Hearn said...

Sadly, I signed up for Jazeera Sports through e-Vision...and what I got was a blurry mash on the screen, like I'm watching the games through a frosted mug.

If I wanted to feel like and English soccer fan....

Meanwhile, relatives getting the feed through their Pehla satellite dish are getting crystal clear, HD quality broadcasts.

What. To. Do.

Anonymous said...

Which team do u support Seabee??

Seabee said...

Australia of course :-(

hut said...

Get yourself down to Karama and buy a Hotbird or Dish TV package under the counter. About Dhs600 per year, including free WorldCup coverage on ESPN.

I have been told.

hut said...

And sorry to rub it in - Australia looked pretty pathetic yesterday...Stick to the oval ball I say!

Seabee said...

True Nick, or the little red ball.

To make it even worse the only outfield player of any quality got himself sent off.

Var said...

Aussies got crushed!!!

Seabee said...

'Crushed' Var? For this Aussie team, restricting the Germans to only four goals is a big success!!

Var said...

Yes, its an ageing team.Most of the players are 30 something.They should put in new players.They have no chance of getting into the quarterfinals anyways.....and i dont support them.I support PORTUGAL!!

Susan said...

>>Australia of course :-(<<

At least they're there! Scotland didn't even get that far :-(