The Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo today has revealed the full details regarding FIFA World Cup 2018 coverage on RTM’s free-to-air (FTA) channels. Among such information includes number of matches involved as well as the main sponsors behind the telecast.
While most of the information regarding the World Cup coverage by RTM have actually been revealed by the minister last month, the official launch of the coverage only took place earlier today. As a refresh, 41 out of 64 World Cup matches will be shown on RTM channels.
From these matches, 28 of them will be shown live while 13 more will be delivered as delayed telecast. Furthermore, 21 of the live matches will take place on TV1 while the rest can be viewed through TV2.
While Gobind has previously stated that the broadcast rights for the tournament alone would costs RTM around RM 30 million, the public broadcaster has managed to overcome the said costs in full with the help from two main sponsors. Specifically, Maxis who have contributed RM 18 million to the cause as well as another RM 12 million from AirAsia.
The minister also stated that there are indeed additional costs such as today’s launch event and other related events that might take place during the tournament but they are not substantial. Despite that, the minister still welcomes any parties out there to reach out directly to RTM if they are still interested to sponsor the World Cup coverage by the public broadcaster.
Meanwhile, do note that RTM’s World Cup coverage will not be available through TM’s unifi TV even though both TV1 and TV2 are part of the platform. This is due to the fact that RTM’s broadcast rights are meant only FTA broadcasters while unifi TV is an IPTV service.
(Source: RTM, Astro Awani. // Image: Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia)
