2018 World Cup: RTM to telecast 27 matches live, 14 delayed broadcasts

There will be live telecast for 27 World Cup football matches by Radio Televisyen Malaysia ( RTM) while 14 more matches will be delayed broadcasts, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo.

He said the details on the airing of the international football games would be announced by the Finance Ministry tomorrow.

“The costs will be explained by the Finance Ministry. But what I can say now is that the figures said in the Cabinet meeting discussed earlier was about RM40 million but of course there will be sponsors and so forth to absorb a substantial part of it,” he said.

Gobind said he was not involved in finding sponsors but the matter would be addressed as soon as possible.

“We have a ceiling of RM40 million but the actual details of how much cost will be revealed tomorrow. I expect it would be considerably less because when there is ceiling and when it is done via direct negotiation we will try to reduce it even further,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

On the proposal for the formation of a media council, Gobind hopes to bring the matter to the Cabinet in two weeks’ time.

“We have stated that we wanted to establish a media council. We are in the process of setting up its structure. We have indicated the participation from all sectors and will propose to the Cabinet in two weeks,” he added.

The minister also said he was looking to moot policies that would take his ministry into the future and revamp several agencies.

“Certain agencies need to be restructured altogether. They need to be demolished and rebuilt because for far too long things has not changed and the structure that they operate on may not be relevant or outdated to compete with other agencies,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said he would also meet representatives of all major telco operators soon to discuss reducing the price of internet services.

Gobind also said the government was looking to increase internet speed as well as reduce costs but needed to take certain things into consideration.

“We have certain plans in mind. We are still working on it. I will meet with telcos next week or following week to discuss the way forward,” he said. — Bernama