Compromise for football broadcasts

A compromise concerning the broadcast rights for the 2007 Premier League season was worked out between state owned television station, RTR-Sport, and pay-TV station NTV-Plus, according to Interfax.

NTV-Plus general director Dmitry Samokhin said regular season games this year would continue to be shown on Channel One, RTR-Sport and regional stations, as it was in 2006.

Samokhin noted that the contract between NTV-Plus and the Premier League remained in force.

The controversy began last Tuesday when the Premier League announced that NTV-Plus had bought the television rights to regular-season games in a four-year deal that is reportedly worth USD 100 million.

President Vladimir Putin criticized the deal and assigned First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to find an answer. Putin said the deal would "deprive us, the average fans, of the chance to watch football for free."

Medvedev is chairman of Gazprom, which controls NTV-Plus.

Medvedev said Premier League matches would continue to be broadcast on state-owned television this year, Interfax reported.

"As for the assignment the president gave me, I want to inform Russian fans that a meeting has taken place with the heads of NTV-Plus and RTR-Sport," Medvedev said. "During these consultations, it was decided that for the duration of this season, free broadcasts of football matches would be retained, just as was done last year."

"Our contract with the Premier League remains in force," said Samokhin of NTV-Plus. "We are investing a significant sum into the development of Russian football and taking television broadcasts to a new level."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.