The application by SingTel for a stay on the ruling by the Media Development Authority, Singapore’s media regulator, that the pay-television operator must offer coverage of the English Premier League, the top division of football in England, to pay-television broadcaster StarHub, has been rejected.
The application was rejected by Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim.
SingTel, which acquired rights to the league in a three-season deal, from 2013-14 to 2015-16, in October 2012, was told by the watchdog on April 24 that the coverage must be made available to StarHub as part of the country’s ‘cross-carriage’ regulations.
SingTel subsequently applied to Ibrahim for a stay on the MDA’s ruling. However, The Straits Times newspaper said that the minister rejected the application based on a number of factors, including an evaluation of the grounds for SingTel’s appeal against the regulator’s ruling, the impact on the public and the impact on SingTel itself.
SingTel is now required to continue preparations for cross-carriage of its Premier League rights.
However, the company is still awaiting the result of a separate appeal it filed against the regulator’s decision on May 8 – a process that is still ongoing.