JEDDAH, 22 June 2006 — Electronic shops in Jeddah having seemingly grown rather busy in selling cheap antennas and receivers to allow soccer fans to tune into European channels to watch the World Cup.
Since before the international tournament, electricians and technicians in the Kingdom have been looking for ingenious ways of accessing channels that broadcast games and allow customers to watch the much-awaited international event at an extremely cheap price.
Soccer fans can watch and enjoy the entire World Cup 2006 for just SR100 — SR70 for the antenna and SR30 for installment. “We are selling about 70 antennas and receivers a day. We have been very busy ever since people realized that there was another way of watching soccer matches,” said Mohammed Rasool, a sales assistant at an electric shop in the Rawdah district.
Rasool added that the demand for antennas sharply increased recently after people came to know that some receivers were able to catch European channels that are broadcasting matches for free. “We have ordered a large amount of antennas from local distributors in order to meet our customers’ demands,” he added.
Electrician, Siraj Al-Deen, works for an electronic shop in the Al-Faisaliah district. He said people have lately been going crazy in buying cheap antennas and receivers. “We have been working extra hours to sell and install such antennas,” he added.
Around the Kingdom, fans have been anxiously trying to find alternative ways of watching soccer matches that are taking place in Germany. ART, the television channel that has exclusive rights over World Cup broadcasts in the Middle East, is rather expensive.
“ART is really expensive and many people are refusing to pay extortionate fees and have been looking for ways of catching international satellite channels which broadcast the games for free,” said Abdulkaliq Al Ghamdi.
He explained that people use special codes to see the matches on European channels through a transponder and antenna. Al-Ghamdi added that installing such transponders and antennas is perfectly legal and not contrary to any sort of law in Saudi Arabia.
