RTM to show 41 of 64 World Cup matches, 27 live, 14 delayed

Gobind: RTM to show 41 of 64 World Cup matches, 27 live, 14 delayed (updated)

There will be 41 FIFA World Cup matches that will be aired for free on RTM for football fans to enjoy.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that out of the 64 matches, the national broadcaster will show 41 matches, out of which 27 will be live and 14 delayed.

“From the Cabinet meeting this morning, the Government has agreed to broadcast for free the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament on RTM.

“We know that this is where the world famous players will be in action.

“For me and the Ministry, this is an important international event so we think it is important that it should be broadcast by RTM as it is a government agency,” he said after his Ministry's post-Cabinet press conference on Wednesday (May 30).

Gobind said he had presented a working paper to the Cabinet and has allocated RM40mil as a ceiling cost.

“But the actual cost and so forth will be revealed tomorrow (Thursday) by the Finance Ministry.

“I expect it to be less as there will be negotiations and sponsors. We believe many will take part and so we hope by this way, it can reduce the overall cost,” he said.

~Courtesy of The Star~

Serie A live on OKTO

Lionel Messi arrives in Singapore with Argentina squad, won't feature in friendly

Lionel Messi arrives in Singapore with Argentina squad, won't feature in friendly



Football star Lionel Messi arriving at Singapore Changi Airport on Saturday (Jun 10). (Photo: Football Association of Singapore)

Fresh from their 1-0 victory against Brazil in the Melbourne Superclasico in Australia, Argentina's football team landed at Singapore's Changi Airport on Saturday evening (Jun 10) - with Lionel Messi in tow.

However, the Barcelona superstar and five-time Ballon d'Or winner will not feature in Tuesday's friendly against Singapore at the National Stadium "due to personal reasons", international match promoter UNICESS later confirmed in a media statement.

It added that Gonzalo Higuain and Nicolas Otamendi will not be taking to the pitch as well.

There had been speculation over Messi's attendance, after it was reported earlier this week that he and Otamendi could miss the friendly, as they wanted to prepare for their respective weddings.

Channel NewsAsia understands that Messi travelled back to the airport a few hours after arriving in Singapore and joining the team at The Fullerton Hotel.


(Photo: @Argentina/Twitter)

About 10 fans waited outside the private terminal at Changi Airport on Saturday - some of them had camped out for seven hours - hoping to catch a glimpse of their favourite players as they zipped out of the airport grounds in a bus.

Fans waiting outside Changi Airport's CIP Terminal hoping to catch a glimpse of the football stars. (Photo: Noor Farhan) "I just followed a few stars on their Instagram and Twitter accounts. And then I just calculated the time difference from Australia. We just we went to Terminal 3, Terminal 2, and then we ran here to see if we could find them for five seconds,” said 19-year-old Eshaan Bhosle.

Jasper Chai, 16, had also been hoping to get up close with the football stars: "It's a little bit disappointing, the fact that I couldn't get close to them. But it's just really a great experience to even see them, most of them just smiling and knowing that there are fans around that support them."

"From this trip (to the airport), I managed to make so many friends here. It's just amazing. Football is an international language,” he added.

Coach Jorge Sampaoli's 23-man squad is a star-studded one, with Manchester United's Sergio Romero, Paris Saint Germain's Angel Di Maria and Juventus striker Paulo Dybala all set to start against Singapore.

The friendly was organised to mark the Football Association of Singapore's 125th anniversary.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

FA Cup final - Chelsea vs Arsenal

Live on Mediacorp Okto Channel

EPL Chelsea vs Sunderland

RCTI 12am Monday (delay telecast 2 hours)

EPL Arsenal vs Man Utd

7 May, Sunday, 11.00pm S'pore time, Live @ MNC TV

EPL Tottenham vs Arsenal

30 Apr, Sunday, 11.30pm Singapore time @ RCTI

EPL: Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

Sunday, 23 Apr, 11.30pm

EPL Chelsea vs Man Utd

Sunday, 16 April, 11pm, RCTI Indonesia

EPL Live: Arsenal vs Man City

Live on RCTI, 11pm

La Liga launches regional office in Singapore

La Liga launches regional office in Singapore, to bring more teams over

Spain's football league La Liga launched a regional hub office in Singapore on Thursday (Mar 23), as part of its international expansion strategy to popularise the league in Southeast Asia.

Speaking at the press conference during the launch, La Liga's president Javier Tebas said the league wants to tap on the growing presence and popularity of La Liga in this region.

He said: "We are delighted to extend our presence in Asia, and this is the next step in our efforts to grow the sport and La Liga's popularity globally.

"Asia has always been a very important market for us, and we feel that the time is right to grow out presence in the region even further, where we have a huge fan base. I am eagerly looking forward to our visit to Singapore for this historical project."

La Liga said it will focus on investing time and resources through exhibition matches, player visits and grassroots development programmes.

MORE TEAMS TO VISIT SINGAPORE

Among their plans is to bring in more La Liga teams to Singapore. "We’ll definitely be looking into bringing in some of the clubs here for exhibition matches next summer in 2018, as it part of our strategy for growth here,” said Mr Tebas.

Acknowledging that the La Liga would have to compete against the popularity of the English Premier League in Asia, Mr Tebas said there is enough of the viewership pie for everyone. “There is space for everybody, there is a lot of room to grow and there is something for everybody especially in the digital space. This is proven by the fact that last year our viewership audience grew by 40 per cent.”

“In this part of the world, more that 55 per cent of the world’s population lives here. It would be a mistake in our strategy if we don’t reach out to the people in Asia.”

The league's ambassador, former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker Fernando Morientes, said: "I am very excited to be visiting Singapore for the launch of the special project.

"As La Liga ambassadors, our biggest responsibility is to represent the best league in the world and keep our fans engaged with the sport. It's always our endeavour to reach out to supporters, not only in Spain, but also across the world," added the former forward.

This is the league's fourth office in Asia after China, India and Dubai. La Liga said its Singapore office will house a dedicated set of resources to execute its proposed projects in the region.

As soon as La Liga Singapore's office at Great World City's East Tower officially starts work next month, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is planning to propose sending a group local youth players for training stints in Spain through the newfound partnership.

According to FAS interim president Lim Kia Tong: "From our initial internal discussions, we’re looking at possibility of getting four of our youth players for a stint there. That’s where I believe we, too, can benefit from this new relationship."

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

19-20/3 EPL live telecast

Bournemouth vs Swansea 1.30am Sunday (MNC TV)
Boro vs Manu 8pm Sunday (MNC TV)
Man City vs Liverpool 12.30am Monday (RCTI)

Liverpool vs Arsenal - RCTI Live

5/3 - Sunday - 1.30am - S'pore time

Leicester vs Manu - RCTI Live telecast

12am Monday

Eleven Sports Network secures Euro 2016 broadcast rights

Eleven Sports Network secures Euro 2016 broadcast rights in Singapore

Eleven Sports Network has secured exclusive rights to broadcast the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in Singapore, the global sports etwork announced on Friday (Mar 8).

The network is available online and on Singtel TV.

Eleven Sports said that the package includes qualifiers and tournament rights. Viewers will get to watch up to four live matches per day during the group stage, it added.

"UEFA Euro 2016 is one of the most popular and important football competitions in the world and is exactly the type of major event we want to bring to the fans,” said Mr Danny Menken, Group Managing Director, Eleven Sports Netowrk. “These rights mean supporters in Singapore can still get their football-fix outside of the domestic league season.”

This year's tournament will see 24 teams contest for the trophy for the first time in the tournament's history. The group stage will run from Jun 10 to 22, and the knockout stages from Jun 25 to Jul 7.

The final will be held on Jul 10.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

LionsXII out of Malaysia Super League

LionsXII out of Malaysia Super League

In a post on its website, the FAM said it is not renewing the MOU signed with the Football Association of Singapore in 2011, and so the LionsXII will no longer play in the MSL beginning in 2016.

The LionsXII will not be playing in the Malaysia Super League (MSL) in 2016, announced the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) at a press conference late Tuesday evening (Nov 24) in Kuala Lumpur, following a meeting among FAM's executive committee.

In a post on its website, the FAM said it is not renewing the MOU signed with the Football Association of Singapore in 2011, and so the LionsXII will no longer play in the MSL beginning in 2016.

The side is currently involved in the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals, where they lost 4-1 to Pahang in the first leg on Tuesday night.

The LionsXII have been playing in the MSL since 2012. The vacancy left by the Singapore-based team will be filled by another team with a playoff.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

Singtel bags EPL rights for next 3 seasons

Singtel bags broadcast rights for next 3 EPL seasons

Singtel announced yesterday that it has won the Singapore broadcast rights to all English Premier League (EPL) matches for the next three seasons starting from August next year.

This comes a week after the telco's Australian subsidiary, Optus, said it won the Australian rights to broadcast the popular British football league, also known as the Barclays Premier League, because it is sponsored by Barclays Bank.

Yuen Kuan Moon, chief executive of Singtel's Singapore consumer business, said in a statement yesterday that Singtel TV fans "can be assured that their football experience stays uninterrupted at rates that remain affordable".

Mr Yuen added: "Since the beginning, our aim (has been) to bring the Premier League and other football properties to as many Singaporeans as possible. Football is for everyone and we intend to work with all relevant parties to make sure fans get access to the best League experience."

Singtel has held the rights to broadcast the EPL here since 2009, when it wrested the 2010-13 season rights from incumbent StarHub, which had been showing the games since 1997. Singtel reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars to secure the rights. Singtel secured the rights to the 2013-16 season again in 2012.

The EPL rights boosted Singtel's pay TV subscriber base significantly from 78,000 as of March 31, 2009, to 423,000 as of March 31 this year.

~News courtesy of My Paper~

Man City vs Chelsea

Sunday night 16/8, 11pm Singapore time, LIVE on SCTV Indonesia

S'pore Pools eyes online bets for Euro 2016

S'pore Pools eyes online bets for Euro 2016



PLAYING SAFE: Any operator looking to get into online betting must be not-for-profit and has to include "robust social safeguards" in the websites to help gamblers control their activity. 

Legal online betting in Singapore could kick off as early as next June, in time for the Euro 2016 football championships.

Betting operators Singapore Pools and the Singapore Turf Club (STC) have applied to be exempted from laws that curb online betting, The Straits Times has learnt.

Singapore Pools has also confirmed that it has hired British giant OpenBet, which already provides online gambling software for major bookmakers such as William Hill, Paddy Power and Betfair, to help replace its current website with one which can offer sports betting.

This comes ahead of an Aug 1 deadline for lottery operators to apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to be exempted under the Remote Gambling Act, which came into force on Feb 2.

MHA confirmed with The Straits Times that both Singapore Pools and STC have applied for certificates of exemption to "offer remote gambling services for their existing products".

Singapore Pools currently offers football and motor-racing betting, as well as lottery games like 4D and Toto, while STC takes bets for horse races.

MHA said that the applications will take nine to 12 months to evaluate, based on "strict" criteria.

Any operator looking to get into online betting must be not for profit and must include "robust social safeguards" in the websites to help gamblers control their activity.

Singapore Pools plans to display the time spent on the gambling website and even allow people to apply for self-exclusion orders.

It also told The Straits Times that it is likely to separate its betting website from its corporate site to ensure that it will pass compliance checks by the MHA's Gambling Regulatory Unit. According to the documents obtained by The Straits Times, the look and feel of both sites should be coordinated to "reduce customer confusion".

It is understood that it will cost about $10 million for OpenBet to build a new site.

A steering committee, led by Singapore Pools chief executive Seah Chin Siong, has been set up to oversee the operator's sports business and IT teams, which are working to get the site up and running in time for Euro 2016. The teams are said to be working with banks on how to link customer bank accounts to the betting system.

The Straits Times understands that the OpenBet team will be in Singapore next week to conduct workshops on how to run online betting operations.

The Remote Gambling Act criminalises a host of remote gambling activities, including phone betting, unless exemption is specifically obtained.

So far, 11 people - who allegedly collected bets amounting to about $3 million - have been nabbed for flouting the remote gambling laws.

The online gambling industry here is estimated to have raked in some $500 million last year from foreign- and locally based gambling portals before they were shut down.

~News courtesy of My Paper~

2/3 May EPL @ SCTV Indonesia