PUTRAJAYA: The government has clarified that the cost of airing 41 of the 64 World Cup 2018 matches from Russia over RTM would cost RM30 million, and not RM40 million as earlier reported.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said, from the total, the government has already managed to secure RM15 million in sponsorship.
"We received a letter from Sports & Media Distributor which quoted us RM30 million as the cost for airing 41 World Cup 2018 matches.
“We already have RM15 million in sponsorship to date, and will work to secure even more to cover the cost,” he told a press conference on Thursday.
He said RTM has expressed its readiness to screen the matches live. On whether RTM would be dedicating a special channel to air the matches, Gobind said the mechanic are still being ironed out.
He said details on the return of investment in airing the matches would be disclosed later.
“We will also announce the sponsors, this government is transparent and will share the said information with the media later," he added.
If RTM would allocate special channel for the World Cup matches, Gobind replied it was too soon to come up with the details as the mechanics for live viewings were still being ironed out.
Earlier, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government agreed to broadcast the World Cup matches because it is only held once every four years.
"The allocation for the World Cup has been approved by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad; it is held only once very four years," he added.
* Report by Azura Abas, Manirajan Ramasamy, Irwan Shafrizan Ismail, Luqman Arif Abdul Karim, Mohd Husni Mohd Noor, Hazwan Faisal Mohamad and Farah Adilla