Nothing is for free

World cup! Football mania is also in Dubai. Everything else is like I'm used to when the world cup is on, but this time one thing is different. Here you have to pay to see it! ART bought the exclusive TV rights for the whole Middle East and are making everyone pay.

I checked with a cable TV to get the package that has the relevant sports channel - and I was told I have to pay 500 dirhams extra (1750 eek) to get that channel. A friend of mine also heard about fees higher than 1000 dirhams at some company. Ridicoulous!

All the pubs, shisha cafes and restaurants that want to show the matches live had to acquire a special license which costs like 10,000 USD. Therefore places have entrance fees or a minimum charge. The only free places are those which took the illegal way and show UK or I don't know which channels - illegally. I read from a newspaper that those companies will get heavily fined.

Okay I understand that ART wants to earn money - but couldn't they just sell air time for commercials? There's a huge crowd watching the games live all over Middle East, for sure companies would invest. Why make the fans suffer? This sucks.