Days before the World Cup kicks off, the Lebanese await the outcome of negotiations between the Ministry of Information and Qatari officials aimed at broadcasting the matches live on Tele Liban. In this context, Al-Anbaa electronic newspaper learned that negotiations with the Qatari side are ongoing, and Lebanon will receive a final answer between today (Monday) and next Friday at the latest.
Additionally, informed sources indicated that "there has been a policy in place for many years that requires not announcing the result until one or two days before the tournament begins, in order to encourage people to purchase more subscriptions from channels that exclusively broadcast the World Cup, such as Bein Sports and others." The first match is scheduled for Sunday, so the result may be announced on Thursday or Friday.
However, the sources did not rule out the possibility of not broadcasting the matches if Lebanon fails to meet the financial obligations, and the Qatari state does not provide any grants. They noted that "at certain stages of the tournament, there may be more than one match at the same time, and at that point, Tele Liban will only air the most important match if it obtains the broadcasting rights."
A few days ago, Minister of Information in the caretaker government, Ziad Makari, ruled out the possibility of broadcasting the Qatar 2022 World Cup matches as a grant, revealing that "there is a good offer from the Qatari side for funding." He stated, "The main goal is for Tele Liban to broadcast the World Cup matches so that all Lebanese can watch them without paying any fees." He mentioned that he had held meetings abroad twice, noting, "Within a week from today, we are supposed to receive an answer, and it will be transparent to all Lebanese."
