Dear Editor,
Allow me to register my disappointment and frustration against NCN for stopping MovieStar from telecasting the ongoing FIFA World Cup football matches by way of court injunction. I read about this with dismay in your paper of Wednesday, June 25 at page 13.
It would not be a problem if NCN was providing a good service that would enable those interested in football to watch and enjoy their game. After all the FIFA World Cup comes only once every four years. In the first place NCN has limited coverage and its signal does not reach most parts of Georgetown, let alone other towns in Guyana. I happen to live in Turkeyen and also operate from South Road, but the NCN signal in these neighbourhoods is very poor with background noise and blurred pictures. Secondly NCN does not have capacity to telecast the matches being played in real time. I understand some matches are delayed and shown as late as midnight. Which responsible Guyanese will remain awake to enjoy their match and be ready for work the next morning?
If the injunction against MovieStar was initiated by DirecTV, it would be understandable because DirecTV is a private company in direct competition with MovieStar. For NCN to put an injunction on MovieStar only exhibits the insensitivity of NCN management to the situation on the ground and it shows that they do not care about the hard-working citizens who had an opportunity to wind off a long day’s work with a world cup match. Otherwise why fight a small company? MovieStar was not charging extra or benefiting from its customers by telecasting the matches. By having an injunction in place it is the customers who are being unduly punished. When I called to inquire why the matches were suspended, the lady on the other end of the line said, “NCN has imposed an injunction and we will not be showing World Cup again because they want a lot money for us to purchase the rights to show the matches and we cannot afford because we are small cable company.” Surely, why would NCN demand so much money from a small company before it can bring the biggest sport to the citizens’ screens? I think this is an abuse by NCN of its privileged dominant position as it tries to frustrate and squeeze the small operators out of the market. Who will suffer in the end? It is the young hard-working Guyanese who will lose their jobs and become unemployed as well as the customers who will have their options of what to watch reduced.
NCN should reconsider their decision and move to have the injunction lifted.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)