ART demand $20 million for World Cup broadcasting

Arab Radio and Television (ART) announced that they have to be paid $20 million in order to allow the terrestrial broadcasting of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

كتب : Amro Hassan

الإثنين، 06 أبريل 2009 - 16:32
Arab Radio and Television (ART) announced that they have to be paid $20 million in order to allow the terrestrial broadcasting of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

ART acquired the tournament's broadcasting rights from FIFA, and sports channels president Mohyi Saleh Kamel said that the Egyptian government need to accept their offer.

"We have no crippling demands for allowing the 2010 broadcasting," Kamel said in a press conference held in Luxor.

"We told the Egyptian government that we need $20 million to sell the broadcasting rights in Egypt, and they need to respond quickly."

U-20 World Cup

In the same conference, it was confirmed that the under 20 World Cup is set to be broadcasted terrestrially on Egyptian public channels.

"We are very thankful to ART's decision to allow the terrestrial broadcasting of the World Cup in Egypt," head of organizing committee Hani Abou-Reida said.

"The fact that we host the competition doesn’t give us the right to broadcast the games for free, but we're glad ART allowed us to do so."

From his side, ART sports channels president Mohyi Saleh Kamel said that the games will be similarly broadcasted in the United Arab Emirates.

Alongside Egypt, UAE will be the second Arab nation taking part in the tournament which will be held in Egypt in September.