DUSHANBE, June 7, Asia-Plus – Tajik soccer fans will be able to watch the Football World Cup 2006 that will open in Germany on June 9, Mr. Asadullo Rahmonov, Chairman of Tajikistan’s Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting, said.

“For this, we have conducted negotiations with our colleagues from Iran and Kazakhstan, and we have reached an agreement with the Iranian side on broadcasting the World Cup 2006 in Tajikistan,” said Asadullo Rahmonov, “With aid of Iran, our television will be able to produce a signal feed practically for all viewers in the country; some 97 percent of the country’s population will be able to watch the championship.”   Head of the Tajik Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting has noted that it will be live broadcast.   

In the meantime, Kazakhstan’s “Eurasia+ORT”, which owns an exclusive right of broadcasting the World Cup 2006 in the Central Asian region notes that Iran’s company has the right to broadcast the championship only on the territory of Iran.   “If the Iranian side provides Tajikistan with live broadcast of the World Cup “Eurasia+ORT” will use its right to impose penalty sanctions on the Iranian company, because only “Eurasia+ORT” has a license for broadcasting the World Cup in the Central Asian region, including Tajikistan,” the Asia-Plus interlocutor said.