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Ahmad Shabery Hopes SEA Games Will Not Be An Exclusive Event

PUTRAJAYA, April 27 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek hopes the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia from Nov 11-25, will not become an exclusive broadcast rights event, without prior notice.

He said every country must be informed whether broadcast rights are exclusive or otherwise because countries would need at least a year to prepare the budget and find sponsors.

"We do not want to see what happened during the Laos SEA Games in 2009 to repeat itself. In Laos, the organising committee imposed very high broadcast rights at the last minute, forcing many countries to shy away from broadcasting the games.

"Without wide coverage of the games, there will be no highlights of the action in that particular country," he told reporters here.

Ahmad Shabery was commenting on Indonesia's decision to bar media coverage from the Malaysian media, even for the launching of the SEA Games mascot, apparently because they did not have broadcasting rights.

Asked if the matter would be raised top the higher authorities, Ahmad Shabery said an in-depth study was needed to find out who determine the broadcast rights - the Indonesian government or the organizing committee.

"Sometimes the organ sing committee will have a bigger role and authority in terms of broadcast rights than the government. We have to look at it carefully," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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