The Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) did not know until “the last minute” that it had lost the rights to air the Six Nations Rugby Tournament to Al Jazeera, its CEO, Marc-Antoine d’Halluin told 7DAYS yesterday, adding he apologised to OSN subscribers.

“In this particular case we got caught by surprise because we actually thought until the last day that we would be able to broadcast the Six Nations,” he said.

“This is essentially why there was not the proper level of information that we absolutely believe we should be sharing with our subscribers. So in that case, we apologise on the way it came across.”

He added that the Six Nations would be broadcast on the Al Jazeera network again next year, but OSN would pursue the rights the next time they came onto the market.

There have been numerous complaints about the merger of Orbit TV services with those of Showtime, including the loss of rights for sporting events like the Six Nations and football’s English Premier League, as well as bad quality reception and restructured packages at the same cost.

In relation to the Premier League, d’Halluin said that OSN was “not in the business of competing with government when they have identified a particular angle as a way to promote their country or city”.

“Football is now at a price point that is out of our reach,” he said.

He also pointed out that OSN still carried a wide range of sports events, particularly in golf, cricket and rugby and “these tournaments are locked into long term contracts”.

As part of the merger, subscribers have kept the old channels they had, received new ones from the network they weren’t with and are also eligible to ‘upgrade’ their package at any time.

D’Halluin said that customers were also allowed to downgrade their package to a lower cost.

“They can absolutely [downgrade their package],” he said, adding there was even a possibility of downgrading in the middle of the contract.