There’s never a dull day in Malaysian football.
But judging by what’s about to come next, make yourself a cup of coffee to absorb all the frustration. It now appears that Astro Arena won’t be broadcasting any M-League games for the immediate future (or should I say foreseeable future), which leaves major doubts on value of FAM’s billion-dollar deal with MP & Silva last year.
We are approximately one week away from the new season and there has been no announcement on the official broadcaster just yet. “It is set to be a game changer in the administration and development of Malaysian football, one that will contribute towards the technical and commercial success of the sport here,” Tengku Abdullah said one year ago, during the ceremony that was hosted to unveil the partnership with MP & Silva. 12 months later, things have barely changed. Maybe one thing has – Astro is no longer keen on the M-League.
“We have always maintained that Astro as part of the consortium of Malaysian broadcasters involving Telekom Malaysia, Media Prima and Fox Sports had tabled a very attractive offer to FAM/FMLLP in 2014 and as you are aware, they decided to go with MP & Silva,” Vice President of Astro’s Sports Business, CK Lee told FourthOfficial.com in an exclusive interview.
The revival of Malaysian football, while due in no small part to the national team’s decent performances at regional competitions over the past few years, was arguably also stimulated by Astro Arena. Since its’ inception in 2010, the channel has inevitably elevated the coverage of Malaysian football by producing live broadcasts of Super League games, besides forming exclusive magazine shows that discussed and dissected the local football scene on a weekly basis.
Hence, when it was announced that Astro Arena would not be broadcasting the 2015 M-League season, the frustration that exploded across the board was absolutely justified. Because what we got after that, was sub-standard coverage of the league by several other broadcasters. Take nothing away from these broadcasters, they did everything they could to provide the coverage that fans were craving for, but none of them are ‘sports-dedicated’ channels, which inevitably takes a major toll on their budget size for MSL coverage.
On the surface, the MSL appears to be a lucrative market, with its growing popularity. The reality though, is completely different. The league in itself lacks major sponsorship deals, and while it’s an issue that’s being dealt with by Football Malaysia LLP as we speak, it does not negate the fact that it was never commercially sound for Astro Arena to broadcast M-League games; something they did for a total of four years until FAM opted to sign a deal with MP & Silva in 2015.
“While we agree that the M-League is popular, the monetization of this content falls short in terms of sponsorship and the propensity for a fan to pay a subscription fee to watch the matches is low,” CK added, during the interview. He also confirmed that MP & Silva did approach them on the possibility of getting Astro Arena back on board, though the offer was counter-intuitive, commercially speaking.
“As the leading consumer and content group in SEA, our focus is to bring the best of sports content to Malaysians. As such, it is normal for us to talk to all parties for the best possible collaboration. We would only look at leagues including the M-league only if makes commercial sense for us. Currently we are committed to other sports like EPL, hockey, badminton, sepak takraw and so on.”
It makes you wonder if the MP & Silva deal was really in favour of growing Malaysian football. A quick look at Astro Arena’s track record as well as their future plans would reveal the amount of impact they’ve had on the local sports scene. Since abandoning the MSL in January 2015, Astro Arena has shifted it’s focus towards raising the profile of other sports within the country – Sepak Takraw as well as the Badminton Purple League. CK also claims that they are plotting to scale bigger heights in the next few years.
“This year will be 6th anniversary of Astro Arena and it continues to grow strength to strength. This is platform for all domestic athletes, sports federations, sports fans and sponsors to play a part as stakeholders of the local sports community,” he said. Unfortunately, the MSL will be starved off this platform for the time being.
And judging by MP & Silva’s inability to sort out the ‘bumper’ paradigm shift they promised Malaysian football fans last year, local football fans would have to get used to sub-standard coverage once again. Even that is contingent upon MP & Silva actually being able to finalize an official broadcaster before the inaugural matches, next week.
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