Following the accusations of the National Television of Haiti (TNH) claiming that the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) opposes the live broadcast of the matches of the Haitian Championship of Professional Football (CHFP-2018) the Federation reestablished the truth for the benefit of all, in a note dated March 17 :

"[...] The Haitian Football Federation (FHF) read with astonishment and sadness a note from the National Television of Haiti (TNH) regarding the opposition of the FHF to the live broadcast of the matches of the National Football Championship of the D1 Men without a prior written agreement of the official broadcaster CANAL PLUS who holds for two seasons the rights of TV retransmission for matches of the said championship while Canal Plus and the FHF had offered their collaboration to find a solution to the will of the public channel to broadcast matches of the championship.

This is surprising because the TNH even being a national channel knows that all shows, even public and especially football matches have protected rights [...]"

The Federation recalls that in order to regularize and promote the development of football, it launched two years ago a public call for tenders and that following this call, only the company Canal SAT Haiti called CANAL PLUS, had made an offer and an exclusive official contract had been publicly signed [for 5 years].

"[...] Knowing how much the Haitian public is passionate about football and how important it is for the FHF that all media participate in this construction work; it has taken care to include several clauses protecting the right to information and the duty to inform of all Haitian media and also the duty and the need to inform their listeners and viewers.

Thus, the official broadcaster must produce after each match broadcast a summary and is freely available to all media who request it.

The FHF, in the contract, agreed that other Haitian media have the right to request and obtain permission to produce and broadcast certain matches that would interest them while scrupulously respecting the technical standard of quality production; better, CANAL PLUS has often given access to these productions to several media [...]

Unfortunately in Haiti pirating of football matches has become the rule and all major sporting events are widely disseminated without agreement with the holder of the practical rights which puts the governing body of football in Haiti, the FHF, in a pariah situation before international football, which is reminded us regularly every day, even with strong threats of sanctions for football Haitian [...]

When the interest of the TNH to broadcast the football matches of the national championship was manifested we advised them and suggested to reach an agreement with the official broadcaster CANAL PLUS who offered to work with them, but instead, we have noted a spirit of contempt, of 'master country' of the bygone era, which contrasts with the philosophy of respect for rights, and the legal norms advocated by the State and the Government which directs it ; the argument that the state subsidizes football and the TNH has an automatic right to everything that is done in the country, seems to us so childish that it still explains our astonishment.

Fortunately, the Government which advocates and wants to establish the rule of law in all aspects of national life and especially wants to lead by example, will not follow the direction of the TNH in this attitude assimilable to a form of nostalgia for the retrograde authoritarianism [...]"

HL/ HaitiLibre