The Maldives Broadcasting Commission’s decision this week to green light local stations to rebroadcaster the 2018 World Cup is ‘disappointing’, says Public Service Media (PSM) chairman Ibrahim Umar Manik.

Manik said in a letter on Wednesday that the state broadcaster had signed an exclusive broadcasting agreement to broadcast the event, and that PSM’s governing board had authorized the rights purchase for MVR 9.25 million, the largest such amount approved to date.

The letter says that the commission should not allow other stations to broadcast the World Cup feed from Sony Sports, given that their exclusive broadcasting agreement stands. Manik said that the decision infringes on PSM’s rights and that it will pursue legal action.  

The commission's President Mohamed Shaheeb stated during a press conference on Tuesday that channels can rebroadcast under 'non-exclusive agreements'. At the conference, Shaheeb explained that local broadcasters can take up events but not exclusive rights, adding that re-broadcasting by other channels of the same event cannot be controlled.

Regional broadcaster Sony Sports agreed to provide a ‘clean feed’, without the network’s logo, to PSM while stations with nonexclusive agreements get a feed with the network’s logo on it.