A tender document released by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLPP), the agency given the contract to move Malaysian football into privatization, has revealed that there would be more live coverage for the Malaysian League beginning next season.
The invitation of tender released by FMLLP revealed that they are looking for agencies willing to have exclusive audiovisual rights for the Malaysian League for three years, beginning next year, and ending in 2018.
According to our understanding of the tender document, multiple agencies or broadcast companies can be awarded the tender based on packages, in which FMLLP will have the sole discretion to determine which match is to be aired.
Our further understanding on the document and its packages also point out that the Malaysia Super League (MSL) will have up to six matches being shown live in a week, with two of the matches being shown on Free-To-Air (FTA) TV. This means that all six matches involving the twelve teams in the MSL would be broadcast live on Pay TV, provided the schedule of the MSL is planned to have one match per week.
Matches in the second tier Malaysia Premier League (MPL) on the other hand will be shown also on all four FTA TV and Pay TV, with each channel needing to show a different game.
For the Malaysia Cup, the coverage is also intensified with up to 4 matches shown per day on Pay TV, and another two more shown on FTA TV, with all quarter final matches shown on Pay TV. This is better compared to the lack of coverage provided during previous years.
Based on the tender invitation document, only the FA Cup coverage is ‘non-exclusive’.
The tender document further requires winning bidders to include on-screen graphics for their match coverage, making us to believe that FMLLP is looking at something equal to the English Premier League coverage now seen on TV.
While it is also our understanding that there might be a possibility that the plans above might change when the contracts are awarded due to negotiations, it is nonetheless good to see that there is something very positive about Malaysian football coverage starting next year.
