City football fans may miss Samba forays into opponents' half during the World Cup

Jamshedpur, June 5: While the soccer stars are sweating it out overtime to mesmerise their fans world over during the FIFA World Cup, the city football buffs might miss the best of Ronaldinho?s elastico moves and Ronaldo?s dummy runs.

With barely three days to go before the kick-off in Munich, Ranchi-based distributor of ESPN Software India Private Limited in the state, Kalyaneshwari Sales and some cable operators of the steel city are yet to pop the peace pill. The soccer fans are likely to miss live telecast of some of the matches due to the stand-off between them.

Refusal of Kalyaneshwari Sales to renew the licence of some of the cable operators of the steel city reportedly led to the impasse.

While Kalyaneshwari authorities are adamant on not providing the signal of ESPN-Star Sports by ?compromising? on terms and conditions, the cable operators have decided to approach Calcutta-based regional manager?s office of ESPN.

General secretary of Jharkhand Cable Operators? Association Ajay Shahdeo said he would meet the officials of Kalyaneshwari Sales to resolve the issue amicably. The management of Kalyaneshwari Sales does not want to ruffle feathers of the football fans either. ?The matches will be screened on giant screens at some places in Jamshedpur,? claimed Deepak Shahdeo, the proprietor. Against this backdrop, the ESPN Software India Private Limited has issued a public notice stating that no cable operator or sub-operator were eligible to broadcast the FIFA World Cup matches without written permission from the company.