On Wednesday the Chinese digital TV company Win TV described accounts that it had secured the broadcasting rights to the English Premier League for another three years for £34 million as being wrong.
One day earlier the British newspaper, The Independent, reported that in fact Win TV, a fairly small subscriber-only company based in Shanghai, had won the China broadcasting rights for the 2010-2013 season in an article that was rapidly discovered by local media.
And Yu Liangxiao, the vice president of Win TV, informed Reuters’ reporters by telephone from Shanghai, "I have nothing to inform you or to announce or to explain. What I can say is the online allegations are inaccurate. We are still in communication."
Win TVs original deal in 2007 was highly-contentious because it got rid of free-to-air coverage of the football league in a market where numerous top English sides, including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, were eager to increase their presence.
With the Premiere League's support, Win TV consented to allow one live match and one highlights package to be televised every week free-to-air by Guangdong Television during the football season.
Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premiere League, said during a trip to Beijing, China last August that a free-to-air component was probably going to be a requirement of a winning proposal for the 2010-2013 Chinese broadcasting rights.
CCTV 5, a state-owned channel, is definitely the largest player within the Chinese market, boasting a market share of 80% in sports broadcasting.
The company has, however, traditionally favoured domestic and foreign leagues pay for the right to access their fans instead of bid for TV broadcasting rights.
|
