Dubai 7s available to rugby fans in Fiji only via free live streaming

With five hours remaining for the Dubai 7s tournament kick off,

World Rugby maintains that it is left with no other option than to withhold the TV broadcast feed for Fiji owing to the Fiji government’s ongoing reluctance to enter into dialogue regarding the Television Cross‑Carriage of Designated Events Decree.

World Rugby has said from Ireland that the Dubai round of the HSBC Sevens World Series will be available to rugby fans in Fiji only via free live streaming on www.worldrugby.org/sevens‑series.

In a further statement, World Rugby says that despite the ongoing impasse with the Fiji government regarding the retrospective and without consultation implementation of the Television Decree, World Rugby does not want rugby fans to miss out on the action as Fiji continue in their quest to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The statement said that while World Rugby recognises that the absence of a television broadcast is inconvenient for fans, it was left with no other option than to withhold the broadcast feed.

World Rugby said it continues to press the government to engage in dialogue with a view to addressing the issues in the best interests of global and Fijian rugby.

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum confirmed to us last night that World Rugby is yet to respond to the government’s request to allow coverage of the HSBC 7s tournaments on all the TV stations in the country.

He hopes to receive a positive reply today.

When Fijivillage asked Sayed-Khaiyum whether the government will allow Fiji TV to show the games if the rights are not allowed to be shared, he says he will deal with this issue today.

The Television Cross Carriage of Designated Events Decree brought in by the Fijian government earlier this year requires all the free to air TV stations to televise designated events which includes World Rugby events like the HSBC Rugby Sevens Series tournaments.

Fiji TV was the exclusive rights holder of the 2014/ 2015 HSBC Sevens Series to air the games on the free to air channel, Fiji One however under the decree they have to share the rights with the other two stations, FBC TV and Mai TV.

World Rugby said it did not consent to the sharing of the television feed for the HSBC Sevens World Series with anyone other than Fiji TV who hold the exclusive broadcasting rights to show the 2014 and 2015 Sevens World Series.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is hoping that World Rugby will recognize that the decree put in place is to ensure that all the television stations provide live coverage of the major sporting events.

World Rugby has also said that it has difficulty understanding the underlying requirement that Fiji TV should share the HSBC Sevens World Series event with other Free to Air broadcasters when Fiji TV is itself broadcasting the event on a Free to Air basis and thus reaching the populace of Fiji.

Sayed-Khaiyum said some areas do not have access to Fiji TV and the television has confirmed this in their letter to World Rugby.

In his letter to World Rugby, Sayed-Khaiyum also said that it is prudent to note that currently in Fiji, FBC TV has a much larger footprint than Fiji TV and therefore those in the rural and outer islands who do not catch the signal of Fiji TV will be able to see the event through FBC TV.

He said to ensure that all Fijians get to watch the 7s tournaments, both the TV stations should be allowed to share the feed of the event.

Stay with us for developments.