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SINGAPORE : Two weeks after sports fans found out they would have to sign up with SingTel if they wanted their dose of Uefa Cup and Champions League football from next year, rival pay-TV operator StarHub said it would be charging extra for viewer access to the Euro 2008 matches.
A season pass for the tournament, to be held from June 8 to 30, will cost S$10 (before GST) for StarHub Digital Cable Sports Group subscribers if they sign up before May 9.
Those who sign up later will have to pay S$20, while non-Sports Group customers can buy the pass for S$50. This comes after subscription fees for the Sports Group were raised from S$15 to S$25 in October.
During Euro 2004, when StarHub held the exclusive rights to 23 of the 31 matches, sports channel subscribers did not have to cough up extra money to watch the tournament. So why the difference this time, fans asked?
"Like most key sports properties, the Uefa Euro 2008 broadcast rights did not come cheap," said StarHub's head of services and solutions, Adit Harinasuta, in a statement.
"Nonetheless, we are constantly looking at ways to reward our loyal Sports Group customers with better value, and are pleased to offer them significant savings with our early-bird discounts."
Unlike in 2004, matches will be streamed live across all three StarHub platforms - cable TV, mobile and online - and in high-definition format. There are also not one, but four dedicated channels this time.
All viewers in Singapore will get to catch the four key games - the opening match, both semi-finals and the final - for free.
Still, fans TODAY spoke to were unhappy at having to pay extra. Civil servant Cai Chengji, 26, argued that winning the exclusive rights for matches already guaranteed StarHub more sign-ups to its Sports Group. He plans to give the Euro 2008 a miss in protest against the "incessant increase in prices".
But healthcare manager Esther Tan said she might buy the season pass. "The timing of the matches is usually early in the morning, so to go somewhere like a pub to watch when you need to work the next day is very inconvenient," she said. - TODAY/il
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