A Jordanian government official on Friday called Al-Jazeera’s
allegations “absolutely baseless and unacceptable,” and said his country is
willing to cooperate with an independent investigation of the claims.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera says that its investigators determined
a site in Jordan was used to deliberately jam the satellite signal during the
broadcast of World Cup games, garbling some and completely blocking others.
The disruption sparked outrage among football fans across
the Middle East, many of whom had to pay extra for special TV packages allowing
them to watch the games at home.
Al-Jazeera is seeking an explanation from the Jordanian
government.
The Jordanian official said the kingdom is willing to
cooperate with any independent team of experts to examine the claims. But he
dismissed the merit of the broadcaster’s charges.
“Any examination will prove these allegations are false,”
said the official. Another official said Jordan didn’t possess the technical
capabilities to jam the broadcast.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the issue.
Al-Jazeera, which had exclusive rights to broadcast the
tournament across the Mideast and North Africa, said it relied on “multiple
teams of independent international technology experts” to identify the source
of the disruption.
It didn’t say who was involved in the probe or how the
investigation was carried out. Molly Conroy, a New York-based spokeswoman for
the broadcaster, declined to comment further.
Football’s governing body FIFA threw its support behind the
broadcaster shortly after technical problems plagued transmission of the
opening match between host South Africa and Mexico, saying it was working with
Al-Jazeera to find the source of the problem.
“FIFA condemns any interference of authorized transmissions
of its competitions and hopes the relevant stakeholders will solve the issue,”
FIFA TV director Niclas Ericson said in an emailed response to questions about
Al-Jazeera’s allegations Friday.
