Is the ability to throw on the vibrant colours of your favourite team each weekend to relax in your recliner or go to a local sports bar where you can watch and enjoy the best league in the world a universal human right bestowed by the United Nations? No, but it is the least that avid local fans of the world’s greatest game can ask for from its cable providers after a long week of back-breaking work.

Watching football is a means of escape for many people, and although it can be a source of misery and anxiety, it also engenders togetherness, camaraderie, and community, whether win, lose, or draw. Additionally, although Jamaica might not be the greatest footballing nation in the world and might not be on the verge of qualifying for any World Cup anytime soon, the passion and love for the game that Jamaicans possess is still unmatched.

This is why several of Europe’s largest and most illustrious football clubs, such as Ajax and Arsenal, have chosen to highlight and pay homage to their Jamaican fan base with special kits and even with the song they sing in stadiums each week. Therefore, each Jamaican who cheers or sheds a tear for an English Premier League (EPL) club and gets enthralled by each moment of every live game does not exist in isolation or has delusional dreams of grandeur. Instead, they represent a significant part of what makes football real.

Unfortunately, both Digicel and Flow, major providers of telecommunication services, have failed to see what English football means to Jamaica and the region. With no regard for the happiness of the region’s football fan base, both providers seek to belabour the point that some level of uncertainty remains after Verticast Media Group, led by president and CEO Oliver McIntosh, acquired the broadcast rights for the EPL, the world’s most popular sporting league.

Given this unfortunate turn of events, Flow has started to offer heavily discounted sports packages to customers as the service provider has conceded that it will not be showing the EPL on any of its main platforms. Similarly, Digicel has also failed to reach a broadcast deal with Verticast Media Group and has barred many local fans and local venues from accessing EPL football matches, games, and content.

Instead, these service providers have chosen to transfer several extra costs and fees directly to each local football fan or consumer as customers have no choice but to stream matches, highlights, and statistics over their high-speed Internet, via mobile prepaid or post-paid services, or through the official Verticast Media Group website and/or app.

In essence, both Flow and Digicel appear to be quite content with the lack of EPL matches on the local airways as they seem to have disregarded the social and financial costs of barring millions of cable subscribers from getting a real sports package and from enjoying a real immersive sporting experience.

All of this is not only a disservice to local fans of football but it is also a short-sighted move that will deprive future generations with burgeoning football talent from witnessing or being inspired by their fellow Jamaicans playing in the best league in the world.

Essentially, this type of action, or lack thereof, on the part of both Flow and Digicel will, over the long term, curtail the emergence of any new Raheem Sterlings, Leon Baileys, and Khadija “Bunny” Shaws — arguably one of the best female footballers in the world at the moment, who herself was influenced by the path of Raheem Sterling, who she watched on TV. Raheem Sterling, formerly of Liverpool, Manchester City, and now Chelsea, has been one of the only true representations of Jamaica and Jamaicans in the world’s top league for a very long time.

To add insult to injury, it appears as if both Flow and Digicel chose to fail when Jamaicans are now mainstays in the league, with the likes of Leon Bailey at Aston Villa, Michel Antonio at West Ham, Bobby Reid at Fulham, Jamal Lowe at Bournemouth, Ethan Pinnock at Brentford, and Demarai Gray at Everton. In essence, much like the multitude of Olympians and Olympic champions that Jamaica has been blessed with, there is now a plethora of Jamaican talent in football that locals can support and cheer for and be inspired by, but because of Flow’s and Digicel’s inaction, many cannot witness the exploits of their fellow Jamaicans.

Therefore, these companies with slogans like ‘The right people to lead us into the future’ and ‘Keeping you connected at home for less’ have failed to do the things that their slogans suggest at the cost of the comfort, happiness, and satisfaction of their regional customer base. This cost it not only related to advertising revenues or the contentious issues related to the Premier League having overseas broadcast partners with licences agreed on a regional basis, spawned from the 2022 to 2025 rights cycle, valued at £10.5 billion (US$14.2 billion), but also the many social and opportunity costs as well.

By failing to come to an agreement with VertiCast Media Group, both Digicel and Flow continue to demonstrate that they have no plans to provide quality sports products to the Jamaican people, and this will only cost Jamaica in the long run. Whereas, if it were traditional conglomerates or powerhouses of ESPN, NBC, and Sports Max, or even the free-to-air channels, such as TVJ or CVM, that owned the exclusive right to this football content in the region, these service providers would have made every effort to get access.

Nevertheless, with these substandard cable packages, mobile apps from Google Play and Apple App Stores and subscriptions to streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus might be the way to go to get premium quality sports content as we bid adieu to these inept service providers.

Kristophe60@hotmail.com