Next time you complain about the WC coverage.....

Analoguesat

... just thank your lucky stars you can actually watch the games. Heres a report from Media Network about the situation in the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan



Isolated Turkmens abandon all to watch World Cup
June 29th, 2006, 14:02 UTC by Andy
They live in one of the most closed countries on Earth and their national team never got near to Germany, but nothing can stop the football-mad people of Turkmenistan from tuning in to the World Cup. Under the iron, sometimes eccentric rule of President Saparmurat Niyazov, who is known as Turkmenbashi, or Leader of the Turkmens, there are four closely controlled state television channels - and no live football.

Channel TV4 does show action from Germany, but the matches are recorded and broadcast anything up to two days late. Even the source of the footage is unclear: logos of original broadcasters are covered over and the sound of the original commentator, crowd and referee whistling are almost inaudible under the voice of the Turkmen commentary.

So football fans crowd into cafes and bars with satellite television, which picks up Russian television and its live coverage of the tournament. ”We bought and installed satellite TV to attract clients and so did our neighbours. Look - there are no spare seats. Clients are calling to reserve well ahead of time,” Rustam, the 34-year-old owner of a cafe in downtown Ashgabat, said. ”We tuned it to broadcast Russian television channels, and it’s convenient. For example, the Brazil-Ghana match was broadcast at 8pm and with Russian commentary,” Rustam explained, adding that “some tune their receivers for Turkish channels.”

Unfortunately, the government has decreed that every cafe and restaurant in Ashgabat close by 11pm, which means missing the second match each day in the knock-out stages, broadcast at 12pm local time.

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wod

what is the point of doing that , just doesn't make sense

surely people turkey could pickup some channels on hotbird if they moved there dishes ?

Analoguesat

One of these tinpot Soviet Rupublics who believe all sources of info should be tightly controlled - even more so that in the UK.....

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