Spainish Soccer Rights, TV is a big deal............
mediacentral.com
Spanish Pay TV Battle Heats Up
The battle for soccer rights and platform dominance hit a fever pitch Tuesday after the digital TV platform favored by the Spanish government rejected a peacemaking proposal from rival Canal Satelite.
Canal Satelite, the digital television group backed by the leading Spanish Socialist opposition party, Canal Plus, and Spanish media group Prisa, had said Monday it was willing to talk with Via Digital about sharing its exclusive rights to broadcast soccer matches.
Via Digital rejected the Canal Satelite offer, asserting that Canal Satelite did not hold exclusive rights to the 1997/98 soccer season, which kicks off August 30.
According to Reuters, Via Digital had offered $839.3 million to Audiovisual Sport for non-exclusive broadcast rights to all Spanish soccer league and cup matches for six years.
Canal Satelite had paid some $96.8 million for exclusive rights for the 1998/99 season through 2003, and contends that it also holds rights for the upcoming season through rights held by the Spanish unit of Canal Plus' pay-TV channel. However, a Spanish court judge ruled earlier this month that Canal Satelite could not adequately prove its claim to the matches.
Those rights, owned by Audiovisual Sport, have been seen by analysts as the linchpin to making digital TV profitable. The distribution of the soccer broadcast rights have been the focal point in a battle between backers of Canal Satelite, Via Digital, which is favored by the Spanish government, and Telefonica de Espana.
Telefonica has maneuvered in the past month to sieze control of the broadcast rights for Via Digital by buying a 25% stake in private television station Antena 3, thus garnering control of its 40% stake in Audiovisual Sport. That acquisition was completed Monday, in defiance of a European Commission warning. Telefonica said it defied the EC, noting that it considered the acquisition a domestic rather than a European competition issue. |
