Thai television channels boycott Asian Cup

Add as a preferred source on Google

Banglok, July 13: Local television channels in Thailand are boycotting the Asian Cup after a spat with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) over broadcasting rights.

Despite Thailand's table-topping 2-0 win over Oman yesterday, channels 3, 5, 9, 11 and TITV are shunning Asia's premier soccer tournament over what they say are unfair broadcasting restrictions.

Channel 7, an official rights holder, is the only local station covering the competition, which is being co-hosted by Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

''We didn't want to do this but the AFC has been too strict,'' said a reporter from TITV, who asked not to be named.

''We can't take cameras anywhere, so we decided to forget about the Asian Cup.'' The boycott is the latest setback for the Thai organisers after poor attendances in the first three Group A matches, which included hosts Thailand and favourites Australia.

Reuters>