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Good news, Malaysian football fans.
Radio Television Malaysia (RTM), under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, will continue to be the official broadcaster for the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar.
Therefore, Malaysians will be able to watch the matches for free.
RTM will bear the costs, private companies can help
According to Bernama, citing Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa, a total of 41 matches will be broadcast by RTM.
This includes 27 live matches, including the final, and 14 delayed broadcasts.
According to Annuar, the matches will be broadcast through the following channels: TV2, TV Okey, Sukan RTM and livestreaming via RTM Klik.
He revealed that RTM would bear a cost of RM32.5 million (S$10 million) to enable Malaysians to watch the matches for free.
However, he also asked private companies and government-linked companies to consider pitching in to bear the costs.
He also added that since 2002, RTM has been constantly bidding for the right to broadcast the World Cup to ensure that Malaysians don't miss out on the action.
The tournament will take place from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18 later this year.
What about Singapore?
The same situation occurred in 2018, with RTM broadcasting the World Cup tournament, which took place in Russia, for free.
It was previously mentioned that the costs of doing the same in Singapore would be prohibitively high.
Singaporeans who tried to access RTM's free online live stream in 2018 found that they were blocked.
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Top image by Andrew Koay.