THE PROBLEM OF PLENTY: We are truly blessed

TrueVisions brings home the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Calcio Serie A, German Bundesliga, French League, Scottish Premier League and English FA Cup, as well as 2010 World Cup qualifying and 2012 Euro qualifying matches.

Hopefully, the cable channel won't interrupt the broadcasts by airing commercials during matches, as it was recently given permission to do after 20 years.

Toon fans, including Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, are also able to catch their beloved Newcastle - though relegated to Championship - through another cable channel called LiveTV.

Even though ESPN and Star Sports failed to secure the rights to show Uefa Champions League action this season, we have been able to watch the matches through free-TV Channels 3 and 7. The only thing missing is the half-time and post-match analysis from the Sky Sports team (via Star Sports), which boast top pundits such as Jamie Redknapp and Ruud Gullit. That, indeed, is a pity.

Thai footie fans also have alternatives such as the Internet, though the picture quality leaves much to be desired.

In England, the World Cup qualifying clash against Ukraine two weeks ago was the first time an England match was not shown on television but broadcast exclusively live on the Internet. Fans had to register with pay-per-view Internet sites or head to selected cinemas instead. Viewers were charged between £4.99 (Bt275) and £11.99.

The match was to have been broadcast on satellite channel Setanta, but the company went bust in June. With England already through to the World Cup finals, major television stations such as the BBC and Sky opted against buying the rights to screen live coverage of the game, which was played in Dnipropetrovsk.

There was a big debate about it among English fans. Normally, they enjoy watching football matches and debating them endlessly over a pint or two in a pub, but they weren't able to do so on this occasion.

Des Kelly, sports columnist for the UK's Daily Mail, wrote: "Cyberspace is the ideal place to order groceries, stalk an ex-lover or waste swathes of the day on soul-sucking stories about whether someone is considered too fat or too thin, but it is not the appropriate medium to watch football.

"The game is supposed to bring people together. Football is meant to be a communal experience, particularly when the country's team is involved. That is why England matches are usually more enjoyable when viewed in the pub. How is that going to work on Saturday afternoon?"

Perhaps he is right.

The companies behind the screening of the match online hailed it as a success when almost a million people tuned in, despite complaints about the picture quality. However, the number of the Internet viewers was fewer when live England football returned to television. During England's 3-0 win over Belarus, there was an average of 7 million TV viewers - with a peak of more than 8 million on ITV1.

We are fortunate that we are in a country that is called "the land of broadcasting football matches". Imagine watching games that are constantly interrupted by broken connections and getting annoyed by buffering and blurry pictures on the Internet, which is very slow here.

However, if 3G broadband becomes a reality, the quality of the Internet would no longer be a problem.

jintana@nationgroup.com