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Does anyone know whether the 2006 State of Origin series can be received LIVE in the Middle East, eg Fox Sports or Showtime?

Game 1 (Sydney) - Wed 24th May - 14:00 UAE Time
Game 2 (Brisbane) - Wed 14th June - 14:00 UAE Time
Game 3 (Melbourne) - Wed 5th July - 14:00 UAE Time

The games can be streamed from the NRL website ( www.nrl.com ) but not for 24 hours after the games.

We would like to watch the games LIVE somewhere. Can anyone help?

Hi Gregos,

The short answer is No. But it is telecast here by ABC Asia/Pacific.

I would be very very surprised if Fox, Showtime, ESPN or ART showed it at all. About the closest thing to real football is last weeks AFL game on Fox.

Mnet (South Africa) might show it, but I doubt it.

ABC Asia/Pacific is only for the Austalian troops in Iraq, Afganistan & Dubai, and is supposed to be encrypted. I would expect that the Australian embasy/consulate also has access (diplomatic immunity).

ABC Asia Pacific is also telecast by Dish TV (India/Pakistan), but as far as I can tell, Dubai does not fall within the satelite footprint. I work with some Indians and would expect them all to have it (like all the south africans have Mnet) if it was possible.

Aussie Legends usually have a recording sent over, but its not much fun watching it if you know that your team has lost, which has unfortunately been the case for me the last few years.

So our best bet is probably to contact the Australian Embassy.

I contacted ABC and their response was that they do not have a licence to telecast here. So I would not expect them to supply any information on satelite frequencies etc.
The embasy is worth a try, but they would probably be even less helpfull.

I did some research into this topic also.

Apparently "ABC Asia Pacific" is transmitted within a subscriber package (Dish TV - India) on Satellite NSS-6 at 12,595 MHz (Ku band).

It is also transmitted as a single channel at 12,674 MHz (Ku band) also on NSS-6.

But in each case I'm not sure about the beam direction and coverage footprint. And of course - it is encrypted and I'm not sure where the smartcards are available.

Here is the media release that claims to be tranmitting to the middle east
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/media/s1456689.htm

The Dish TV package on satellite NSS-6 at 12,595 MHz, is using the Indian subcontinent beam. Dubai is on the western edge of this footprint, but you would probably require a very very large dish to receive it. Once again, my theory is that if this was possible, then every indian and pakistani in Dubai would be taking advantage of it.

The ABC Asia/Pacific channel at 12,674 MHz, also on NSS-6, is using the Australia beam, which is no good to us.

So unless you join the military there isn't much hope of seeing ABC Asia/Pacific here I'm afraid.

You are right - and the sub-continent beam transmitting at 12,595MHz (V) would also clash with the channels on the Hotbird satellite which appears to be fully loaded.

Just out of interest, which Satelite do the South Africans use for M-Net.

Is it Ku Band on PAS-7 ?

or is it C-Band on PAS-10 ?

I havn't used M-net, but I suspect that it is C band because you need a very large dish to receive it.
I have decided to go with Hotbird "free" to air, and have heard that Showtime and ART can also be received for 10 euro a month.