Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández voiced his support for the government's decision to purchase the rights of soccer television broadcasting in Argentina saying that "no government will touch soccer because it belongs to all Argentines."

The government official backed the decision of the Kirchner administration to purchase the rights of televised soccer games for 600 million pesos yearly. During the announcement of the nationalization, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner compared the private administration of soccer games to the kidnappings of the last Argentine dictatorship.

The President said the first soccer games of this second half of the year will be broadcasted by state-run channel 7, while the following games could be broadcasted live by other television networks if they paid for the rights. The government said the move aimed at "democratizing the games.'

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