August 26 – A row has broken out with Russia over the cost of the TV rights to broadcast the EURO 2016 qualifiers and finals, forcing sports minister Vitaly Mutko to step in and seek a solution.
UEFA is selling the rights for the first time via CAA Eleven, a new media rights representation company set up to distribute national team rights to UEFA’s competitions. This is the first time that national team rights for qualifiers have been centralised.
So far Russian broadcasters have been unable to reach a deal claiming that the hike in price in comparison to EURO 2012 is too high for the Russian market. At present the stand off would mean that there would no TV coverage of the championships in Russia, though it does appear an agreement in principle is close on qualifiers.
“I, like many other fans, was concerned that until now, it was not agreed regarding broadcasting the EURO 2016 matches on Russian television. This is related to commercial side of the deal. UEFA has a new partner, who put certain financial conditions to national football federations. This year, the qualifying matches for EURO 2016 and the final match is one TV product. This partner wants to earn a lot from the outset and put a price much higher than usual. Our channels do not want to pay such money for football,” said Mutko to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.
“There are serious negotiations right now. We know how expensive are the TV rights for showing football in Europe. In Russia, this sport has a completely different cost. The company that is selling the rights does not want to look into our situation and lower the cost. I will find out about the status of the negotiations and will try to facilitate their successful completion. We need to show the Euro matches.”
The current, unconfirmed, Russian TV deals for qualification matches are for Rossija-1 to broadcast all away games of the Russian team, except against Austria on November 15 November, which will be shown by Russia’s First Channel. First Channel will also broadcast all home matches, except the game in Chimki with the Liechtenstein on September 8.
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