KOMPAS.com – English Premier League broadcasting rights holder in Indonesia, Mola, confirmed that they will not extend Premier League broadcasts for next season.
This was stated by Mola to their customers through an official notification via electronic mail on Sunday (30/1/2022) in the morning WIB and also via social media in the morning.
“Especially for customers who purchased a long-term package to watch the Premier League (English League), we inform you that we will not extend the broadcast of the Premier League next season,” the statement read.
“For those of you who still have an active plan after May 2022, we provide the opportunity to request a refund for the remaining subscription fee, which will be calculated on a pro-rated basis.”
This immediately caused a stir on social media with Mola trending for the “Premier League” topic on Twitter.
“Wow, that’s really a shame, even though there is already a UFC,” tweeted a user named the @dualfaint account to Kompas.com.
“Hhhmm. Most people use Mola just to watch EPL… if there’s no EPL, auto left customer this,” said user @NugrahaAditya.
Also read: Sampdoria Joins in Celebrating the Launch of Mola in Italy
However, some also welcome that Mola will no longer take the English Premier League broadcast rights next season.
“The performance of the Mola apps is also very poor, the live quality is far from BeinSports, the first picture is good, now it’s dropped a lot though error keep it frequent,” tweeted @eastkidz.
“If at last out, it can be ascertained that the customer target is not achieved.”
“It won’t continue without the EPL. You see, Mola’s subscription is due to the EPL. If Disney+ has EPL, it’s definitely moving there,” said Muhammad Iqbal, @eijkball account holder from Jakarta.
“Actually, Mola is cool too, likes to watch UFC and NFL there. But if there’s no EPL, I’m too lazy,” said Gilang Ramadhan at @G_R12
Kompas.com sources said that Mola had actually tried to extend the tie to broadcast the Premier League from next season, but they lost the bid.
At the same time, rumors were circulating on social media that the Premier League would be taken by Disney+ next season.
This issue circulated because of screenshots of the packages offered for the Sports category starting next season.
“A new way to watch live broadcasts and a collection of local and international sports content, all in one place!” as shown in the screenshot.
It states that there are three tiers of Disney+ Sports subscriptions, starting from Mobile, Mobile+Sports, and Premium.
The screenshot claims there are three exclusive content at the Premium level, namely: Premier League, Champions League, AFC, AFF Cup, AFC Cup, and ESPN and Formula 1 content.
So far, the Champions League and Formula 1 are still owned by OTT Indonesia, Vidio.com, although not with an exclusive contract.
Read also: MOLA will broadcast UFC exclusively in Indonesia
Several parties also voiced against this rumour. A former sports journalist and communication practitioner, Agung Harsya, chose to wait for the package offered by Disney+ if they were to become the right holders of the following broadcasting rights.
“Waiting for the package offered by Disney Plus. Is it possible to apply pay per view? Or the favorite club package?”
We have tried to contact the representatives of Disney+ Hotstar Indonesia but until this news was revealed there has been no response from them.
Meanwhile, Disney seems to have different treatment for sports content depending on the region.
Front Office Sports said that Disney had exclusive Premier League rights in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela for the 2022-2023 season.
The announcement came on Friday (14/1/2022).
However, Deadline’s website said in February 2021 that live sports content was not Disney+’s priority in Europe.
“Right now we have no plans to show live sports on Disney+,” said Jan Koeppen, president of Disney for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“You can imagine, with all the amazing content we just announced last December and now with the launch of Star, we’ve got enough (content) to keep us busy, at least in the short term, here in Europe.”
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