Jordan denies WC10 broadcast jamming - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Jordan denies WC10 broadcast jamming

07/10/2010 03:49:33 PM Comments (0)

Jordan on Sunday called on Al-Jazeera television to provide evidence that coverage of this year's World Cup was jammed from the kingdom, preventing millions from watching the games in South Africa.

"Al-Jazeera has kept its allegations and accusations that Jordan was behind the jamming, despite the kingdom's denial," a Jordanian official said in a statement.

"Jordan calls on Al-Jazeera to provide evidence and dispatch neutral investigators as well as officials from the satellite channel to examine the situation. The government will fully cooperate with them."

The official called the accusations "unacceptable and false," and said "the government will not allow anybody to affect Jordan's reputation and reserves the right to sue any party that harms the country's reputation."

Al-Jazeera on Thursday confirmed a report by Britain's Guardian newspaper that World Cup coverage was jammed from Jordan, despite denials from Amman.

It said it was able to confirm the Guardian's story "based on an investigation carried out by teams of international experts," adding that it would ask Jordan for an "official explanation."

In its Thursday edition, the Guardian said it had seen "secret documents" showing beyond doubt that the jamming of Al-Jazeera's coverage of the World Cup football in South Africa was done in Jordan.

Jordan denied any involvement in the jamming which infuriated millions of fans who had paid in advance for coverage only to receive blank screens, pixellated images or commentary in the wrong language.

Al-Jazeera had exclusive pay-TV rights to broadcast World Cup matches across the Middle East from North Africa to Iran, and charged up to 150 dollars for one-month subscription packages or cards to see the games.

The Qatar-based satellite channel has revolutionised the Arabic-language media and reporting on the Middle East since its foundation in 1996, but at the expense of offending many Arab governments, including that of Jordan.

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