Dutch telcos call on watchdog to intervene in Eredivisie rights sale

The Dutch consortium of telecom and cable operators seeking to secure Eredivisie football rights against the background of an exclusive negotiation between the football body and Disney has asked the country’s markets watchdog to intervene.

The group of telecom players – Delta Fiber, KPN, Odido and VodafoneZiggo – believe that the exclusive talks between the Eredivisie and Disney/ESPN is in breach of the country’s cartel rules.

According to the group, the Eredivisie football clubs can only market their broadcast rights jointly in there is a fair and transparent bidding process, which they say is not the case here.

The telcos have asked the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to define the award of rights to Disney/ESPN as an infringement.

Pending their request, the consortium has stated that is is working on the assumption that the clubs have not yet made a final decision regarding the deal apparently negotiated by the ECV with Disney/ESPN. The companies also informed the ECV and the Eredivisie clubs of this in a letter.

While noting that it was for the ACM to decide whether or not to act, the consortium said that all major leagues in the European Union allocate football broadcasting rights through a bidding process.

It also cited a 2004 ACM statement that the sale of the football rights must take place by following a “transparent and non-discriminatory bidding and award procedure” and that “the method by which various bids are assessed must be objective, transparent and verifiable”.

The consortium has placed an offer of €180 million net for rights, but said that ECV had refused to engage with them.

“We can only guess what the underlying reason is for refusing this. We therefore feel compelled to take the step towards the ACM. We would prefer to sit around the table with ECV and the clubs, but so far we have not been offered a single seat. We assume that the clubs will not make any final decisions regarding the private award to Disney, pending the enforcement request to the ACM,” said a spokesperson for the consortium.