Football fans were left fuming on Saturday night after the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) blocked Italian broadcaster Rai for the duration of the European Championships football match between Italy and Austria.

Fans hoping to watch the round of 16 match on Rai TV found a message stating that the channel had been temporarily blocked “due to PBS rights”, and that viewers could watch the match on TVM.

PBS holds the exclusive rights in Malta for all 51 Euro 2020 matches, with the football games being broadcasted on either TVM or TVM2.

They however never enforced the exclusivity of the rights: even in this same tournament, PBS never instructed TV operators to block Rai TV or other channels which might be showing Euro 2020 matches.

Italy’s group matches, for instance, were all viewable on Rai throughout the past month.

It was a move which left football fans fuming, with many taking to social media to complain.  Many said that they preferred listening to Italian commentary as opposed to English commentary, and also commented on their preference for the match analysis team one finds on Italian television.

One commenter lamented that they are paying for Rai as well, even if PBS have exclusive rights, while others took things a step further, comparing the decision to one which is more expected from an authoritarian regime such as North Korea rather than an EU country like Malta.

The channel was restored after the game – which went to extra time and which saw Italy win 2-1 – in time for the post-match analysis.