I don't agree with the Sunday Times that if Fifa charges five times more for the World Cup telecasts next year, television viewers must also pay five times more than they did four years ago.
That's not how the media business works.
Look at the Sunday Times' sister paper, the Straits Times. With a news-stand price of 90 cents five days a week and a circulation of nearly 390,000, it generates millions of dollars in revenues.
It can do so because of the advertising it gets.
Advertisements could also help keep World Cup television subscription charges down.
Television commercials should not be hard to get. Especially for a popular event like the World Cup,
The telcos, SingTel and StarHub, could approach not only the private sector but other government-linked companies (GLCs). For it has become a prestige issue. How can rich Singapore not afford to show the World Cup when poorer countries in Asia and Africa have already arranged to do so?
Singapore is home to civic-minded, image-conscious enterprises with a programme of giving back to the community.
Think of NTUC with its union roots and lifestyle businesses. Think of DBS. Think of the Straits Times, which tries to keep its readers happy and gets a lot of business from SingTel and StarHub.
Think of all the public service campaigns they could run:
Speak good English. if you drink, please don't drive. Smoking is hazardous to your health.
They certainly have the money to do so.
I have seen the earnings reports of Singapore Press Holdings, SingTel, StarHub, SBS and SMRT. None of them have been hit by the recession. The Singapore economy has shrunk, but they are minting money. StarHub, SBS and SMRT have all reported better results.
The Sunday Times report implied that StarHub subsidized viewers during the 2006 World Cup. "Assuming that the telcos are yet again willing to subsidize viewers," it said.
I am looking at StarHub's 2006 report. It says:
Profit from operations outpaced our own revenue growth by about three-fold, growing 41% to hit a record high of $361.4 million for the year while net profit after tax rose 63% to $360.2 million. (All figures in Singapore dollars.)
That was not mentioned by the Sunday Times.
But it had so many other stories to tell.
And how much did you pay for the newspaper?
Less than a dollar.
I wondered last Wednesday how the World Cup TV deadlock would be reported by the local newspapers since SingTel and StarHub are among their biggest advertisers.
The Sunday Times unfortunately could not get anyone from Fifa to talk. So it had to go by what the telcos said.
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i am not a supporter of GLC, but the fact is that advertisement space is limited in the world cup (10 mins before match and 10 minutes break, not counting the commentators talk),which means ad spending will not be enough to pay for rights when the population it is targeting is small.
either the fan has to pay more which is of course expensive judging from fifa’ hefty jack up or someone has to pay for the free lunch like starhub,singtel, mediacorp or govt,if it is the latter two,trust me, we will have to pay them back in the future.