March 1 – In a world first, a club TV channel has bought the broadcast rights to an international football league. Benfica TV has been awarded exclusive audio visual broadcast rights for all Barclays Premier League matches per season for from 2013/14 – 2015/16 in Portugal.
Broadcast rights are usually the exclusive domain of broadcasters but in what looks like becoming a blurring of traditional boundaries, clubs with large support bases and audience reach through their own TV channels could become credible buyers of premium rights.
With more traditional football rights buyers finding their acquisition budgets squeezed, creativity will be required by sellers to sustain revenue levels.
The Benfica deal with the Premier League will require the club providing a guarantee, but no figure has been announced. The deal caused raised eyebrows in some circles, but as one industry insider said, “there was unlikely to be a lot of aggressive competition for the rights. Benfica are the biggest club. This could be a smart move”.
Luís Filipe Vieira, President of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, said: “Innovation is a permanent value of Benfica and the fact that we can offer, during the next three years, the Barclays Premier League matches to all Portuguese, and not only to Benfica fans, is something that fills me with pride and points the way we want for Benfica TV.”
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