Industry News

The Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) did not know until “the last minute” that it had lost the rights to air the Six Nations Rugby Tournament to Al Jazeera, its CEO, Marc-Antoine d’Halluin told 7DAYS yesterday, adding he apologised to OSN subscribers.

“In this particular case we got caught by surprise because we actually thought until the last day that we would be able to broadcast the Six Nations,” he said.

“This is essentially why there was not the proper level of information that we absolutely believe we should be sharing with our subscribers. So in that case, we apologise on the way it came across.”

He added that the Six Nations would be broadcast on the Al Jazeera network again next year, but OSN would pursue the rights the next time they came onto the market.

There have been numerous complaints about the merger of Orbit TV services with those of Showtime, including the loss of rights for sporting events like the Six Nations and football’s English Premier League, as well as bad quality reception and restructured packages at the same cost.

In relation to the Premier League, d’Halluin said that OSN was “not in the business of competing with government when they have identified a particular angle as a way to promote their country or city”.

“Football is now at a price point that is out of our reach,” he said.

He also pointed out that OSN still carried a wide range of sports events, particularly in golf, cricket and rugby and “these tournaments are locked into long term contracts”.

As part of the merger, subscribers have kept the old channels they had, received new ones from the network they weren’t with and are also eligible to ‘upgrade’ their package at any time.

D’Halluin said that customers were also allowed to downgrade their package to a lower cost.

“They can absolutely [downgrade their package],” he said, adding there was even a possibility of downgrading in the middle of the contract.

The UAE pledged its support for Dubai yesterday but said the emirate had yet to ask for federal help.

The UAE finance minister said the federal government would support the emirate as its state-owned group Dubai World negotiates a plan to restructure $26 billion in debt and said he expected a deal soon.

Dubai World is holding informal talks with major creditors, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, in London this week as it finalises a restructuring proposal.

Asked if the government would support Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Of course. Dubai is part of the federation,” adding the emirate had not yet asked for aid.

“The federation hasn’t reached that far but the Emirates are one entity and things will be resolved soon, God willing,” he said.

“The whole thing is that... companies are in arre-ars. These companies are not the whole country,” he added.

UAE Economy Minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said yester-day that creditors should reach an agreement with the conglomerate.

The UAE will review rules governing foreign ownership of companies in the next month and implement a new law by the end of this year, economy minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said yesterday.   

“The law should be submitted to the cabinet within a month,” he told Reuters. “Our expectation is that the law would come out by 2010.”

Under current regulations, business owners from all nationalities except from within the GCC must have a local majority partner.

Exceptions apply in free zones such as Dubai Internet City, where 100 per cent foreign ownership is allowed.

The new regulations have been in the pipeline for several years and are aimed at increasing foreign investment as restrictions on full ownership were considered a key reason for holding back investment and stifling competition.

Al Mansouri said in September the law was in its final stages and would include a rule stipulating a minimum capital of dhs200 to 300 million.

Etisalat sees its revenues from overseas operations reaching as much as 30 per cent by 2013 as it continues with acquisitions and international expansion, group chief strategy officer Ali Al Ahmed said.

“Our target is in three years [to gen-erate] 25 to 30 per cent of revenues from international operations, but I think it might be faster that that,” he told Reuters.

Aldar Properties sold some of its assets on Yas Island to the Abu Dhabi government at the end of last year for dhs9.14 billion, it told the bourse regulator yesterday.

“Certain infrastructure and other property assets on Yas Island were sold to the Abu Dhabi government,” it said, adding that they were sold at book value so no profit was recorded in the firm’s financial statement.