Broadcasting Rights and Contracts
See also: List of sports television broadcast contractsBroadcasting rights and contracts limit who can show footage of the event.
In the United Kingdom BSkyB based its early marketing largely on its acquisition of the broadcast rights of the top division of the English league football, which as part of the deal with The Football Association broke away from The Football League to become the FA Premier League. This prevented the footage of any major Premiership football game being shown on free-to-air television until much later that evening (as highlights), something the European Commission were very unhappy about. Following warnings of legal action to stop the monopoly, an announcement was made that an alternative structure would be in place when the current contracts end in 2007.
In the United States, sports are broadcast by networks usually only in "game of the week" or championship situations, except for the NFL (see NFL on television). Other sports are broadcast by sports channels, and are limited by who can view them based on various rules set by the leagues themselves, resulting in blackouts. These limitations can be legally overlooked by purchasing out-of-market sports packages, such as MLB Extra Innings or NFL Sunday Ticket. Regular season games involving local teams (except the NFL) may also be viewed on those local stations or regional sports channels that have a contract to broadcast that team's games.
TV Rights of the UEFA Champions League, per country. Season 2009-2010, according to footbiz
- United Kingdom: 179 million euros
- Italy: 98 million euros
- Spain: 91 million euros
- Germany: 85 million euros
- France: 52 million euros
- Croatia: 28 million euros
- Greece: 8,5 million euros
- Poland: 8,1 million euros
- North America: 3,5 million euros
- Belgium: 2,9 million euros
- Australia: 2,9 million euros
- Ireland: 2 million euros
- Canada: 0,4 million euros
- Cyprus: 0,2 million euros
Read more about this topic: Broadcasting Of Sports Events
Famous quotes containing the words broadcasting, rights and/or contracts:
“We spend all day broadcasting on the radio and TV telling people back home what’s happening here. And we learn what’s happening here by spending all day monitoring the radio and TV broadcasts from back home.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.”
—William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925)
“Bankers, nepotists, contracts and talkies: on four fingers one may count the leeches which have sucked a young and vigorous industry into paresis.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)