'Blank screen' coverage ruins opening match for soccer fans
Frequent disruptions, poor customer service were top complaints
Dubai: Football fans across the UAE have voiced their frustration at Al Jazeera Sport's World Cup coverage.
Millions of people across the Arab world were furious when the broadcaster's transmission of the opening match between South Africa and Mexico was subject to frequent disruptions.
But supporters are also unhappy about the cost of the channel's World Cup package and poor customer service from the UAE's main telecommunications providers etisalat and du.
Haroon Ravat, a 43-year-old from South Africa, said: "The eyes of the world were on my home country on Friday afternoon but I missed most of the opening match.
"Initially, the commentary was in French even though I was watching the English language channel. But after 10 minutes the screen went blank and it stayed like that for most of the first half.
"Things got better in the second half but the picture was still subject to intermittent delays. It cost me Dh370 to sign up for etislat's service eLife Triple Play but if I had another option I would cancel my subscription immediately.
"I called etisalat and was put on hold for over 15 minutes; they have not even had the courtesy to reply to my email." Customer service operators at both etisalat and du said there was nothing they could do about the problems because the live feed comes from the source, in this instance Al Jazeera Sport.
Karl Jeffs, a 35-year-old freelance photographer from the UK, said: "It was really disappointing after all the anticipation leading up to the opening game.
"I already had Al Jazeera Sports but I paid an extra Dh370 for the World Cup package so I was expecting a better service than we got yesterday [on Friday] evening. I also know several people who have had problems actually getting connected to Al Jazeera after purchasing one of their smart cards."
Free to watch
Melwyn Rodrigues, an export manager from India, said: "The providers of the World Cup in this region are charging people far too much money. Football is played by young boys all over the world and most of the games should be free-to-air.
"I paid Dh399 for etisalat's eLife Triple Play but there are a lot of hidden charges. I phoned etisalat but they could not answer my queries so they cut me off the line, which I thought was very rude. They are charging a bomb so they could at least make sure that people can see the games."