At the beginning of October, and due to the Uruguayan National Team’s debut in the current Qualifiers (which took place that same day against the Chilean National Team), different specialized websites in the country reported that the only way to watch the football match was through a pay TV operator, unlike in happened in previous years, in which it was possible to access matches through Vera+ and Vera TV (belonging to the Uruguayan telco Antel), from any device.
Currently, the TV rights for the nine matches that the Uruguayan National Team must play locally for the Qualifiers towards the next World Cup belong to the Tenfield company, and can be watched only through the VTV channel, without any streaming option available, such as those offered by Antel or AUF TV. In addition, according to specialized websites in Uruguay, Qualifying matches cannot be broadcast on FTA TV in the country either, because the new Media Law establishes the obligation to broadcast on FTA those matches that take place in defining instances. This way, the only option available to watch the matches that Uruguay plays as local during the Qualifiers is through a pay TV operator. In relation to those matches in which Uruguay plays outside the country, as reported by the “El Observador” newspaper website, ‘it will be Tenfield who must negotiate with the one that bought the rights of the other National Teams that play against Uruguay’.
In October, in an interview with to the Uruguayan radio program ‘Primera Mañana’ (Radio ‘El Espectador’, AM 810), Gabriel Gurmendez, Antel’s President, reported that the company will not venture into the production of original content for the Vera+ platform and Vera TV channel. Regarding the continuity of these offers, the executive had reported at that time that ‘we have to see how far we go. I do not think producing original content is the right way’. Gurmendez neither confirmed if Vera will broadcast the coming World Cup matches. ‘They will be accessed in some way, but we must not invade all areas’, he reported.