Having worked in a telco before, I'm only too familiar with the fine art of passing the buck around. And now, both telcos have raised their arms up and have passed the buck to us.
I'm not going to debate on how better the negotiation/strategizing process could/should have been, but I wonder what else Singapore will lose from seemingly saving some $$$ (which we have already lost much more during the junk bonds episode, acted blur, and moved on), some face, and no doubt some jobs within the telcos.
One aspect that comes to mind immediately is our tourism/retail segment. Surely such a boo-boo of not having World Cup telecasts is going to affect the decisions of potential visitors. The money they would have spent on hotels, food, drinks, shopping, etc. Probably peanuts, I hear the critics say? Hmm, not too sure on that, especially the long term perception.
The tech savvy fans will no doubt find a nice proxy server or streaming site somewhere, while the rest of us read the results the next day in the papers. Which year are we in btw?
Lastly, I ponder on this trend. USD $100 million may not be a small amount for us, but it's certainly pocket change for multi-billion dollar sports entertainment market. What makes the telcos here think that the $100 million dollar price tag will "magically" go down 4 years later? Are they infants?
Discuss!
I'm not going to debate on how better the negotiation/strategizing process could/should have been, but I wonder what else Singapore will lose from seemingly saving some $$$ (which we have already lost much more during the junk bonds episode, acted blur, and moved on), some face, and no doubt some jobs within the telcos.
One aspect that comes to mind immediately is our tourism/retail segment. Surely such a boo-boo of not having World Cup telecasts is going to affect the decisions of potential visitors. The money they would have spent on hotels, food, drinks, shopping, etc. Probably peanuts, I hear the critics say? Hmm, not too sure on that, especially the long term perception.
The tech savvy fans will no doubt find a nice proxy server or streaming site somewhere, while the rest of us read the results the next day in the papers. Which year are we in btw?
Lastly, I ponder on this trend. USD $100 million may not be a small amount for us, but it's certainly pocket change for multi-billion dollar sports entertainment market. What makes the telcos here think that the $100 million dollar price tag will "magically" go down 4 years later? Are they infants?
Discuss!