World Sport Group clarifies issues

KABIR – Following a report published by Kabir News about the rules breach by World Sport Group for demanding much money from Iran, Shyamala Velappan, Communications Manager of WSG, has sent a formal statement on this subject to Kabir News.

“World Sport Group strongly refutes the claims made by Mr. Gholamreza Rafiee in the media this week with regards to the cost of broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup 2014 – AFC Qualifying Rounds.

The information Mr. Rafiee has presented is incorrect and misleading. Firstly, the previous agreement to broadcast various AFC events for the period 2009 – 2012 was valued at US$4.5 million.  

The broadcast rights fee which we are negotiating with IRIB for the new cycle is US$11 million for all AFC national team and club competitions, which consist of approximately 1,300 matches over a four year period, not just the FIFA World Cup 2014 AFC qualifying matches.

To put this figure into context, it represents only a tiny fraction of the rights fees being paid by other countries in the Middle-East for the same number of matches.”

A few days ago Gholamreza Rafiee, the jurisconsult of Iran’s state television, accused Singapore based firm for demanding much money to sell broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2014. Iran recently didn’t buy the broadcast right for the match between Iran and Lebanon but the state television aired the game using the pictures from Al Jazeera Sport channel.