Turkish State TV Illegally Broadcasts CL Game

The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) broadcast online part of a European Champions League (CL) game between Turkey's Galatasaray and Germany's Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening although it did not have the broadcasting rights for the game.

TRT's sports portal trtspor.com.tr broadcast part of Wednesday's game, which was played in İstanbul, under a different match title, "Elazığspor-Manisaspor" -- two local clubs that play in the secondary Turkish football league, PTT 1. Lig. In Turkey, local digital interactive TV service provider D-Smart is supposed to be the only broadcaster of CL games played at home.

Following the game, a D-Smart commentator Ali İsmet Ural criticized TRT on air. “This is how things turn around if you bring incompetent people to the state channel. How is the state going to compensate for this?" he asked. Nasuhi Güngör, head of the TRT News and Sports Department, apologized to D-Smart and said the state TV has commenced an investigation into the controversial broadcast. It was not clear what kind of measures TRT would take, and the channel was not immediately available for comment.

The game appeared on trtspor.com.tr along with both D-Smart and TRT Spor logos on screen. The website ceased the broadcast after a short while and appeared to have gone offline before resuming service again.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)