Dubai: Football fans in the UAE were left fuming after Al Jazeera's coverage of the World Cup was interrupted for the second day in a row.

Screens went blank early into the Argentina vs Nigeria game on Saturday afternoon, resulting in viewers missing Argentina's opening goal in the sixth minute.

Fans missed most of the first half of the tournament opener on Friday evening after similar signal disruptions left fans staring at blank screens.

Broadcaster Al Jazeera Sport claimed the problems were caused by "sabotage" and vowed to take legal action against the people it claimed were deliberately jamming their signal.
 
Al Jazeera had advised customers on Friday to switch to a new frequency on Arabsat (11585 - Vertical) to watch the match with Arabic and English commentaries.

Presenters on the English language channel issued an apology at the half-time break, before reading a statement from world football's governing body Fifa.

Fifa appalled

It branded the disruption to the signal as "not acceptable to Fifa" and said the organisation was going to help track the source of the interruptions.

The statement adding that Fifa was "appalled by the attempts to stop Al Jazeera's authorised transmission" of the tournament.

Advice to customers

Al Jazeera Sport is advising customers who are experiencing interruptions to the broadcast to retune their set top boxes to the following frequencies:

Arabsat:

  • 12341 horizontal
  • 11881 horizontal
  • 12398 vertical
  • 11585 vertical


Nilesat:

  • 11240 vertical
  • 11488 horizontal