TV3 to take Sogecable to Courts
October 4, 2007
From David del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish football TV war is intensifying with regional TV channel TV3 suing Sogecable for having prevented it from broadcasting free to air a recent match between the teams Real Madrid and Betis.
TV3 is a shareholder of Audiovisual Sport, the company controlled by Sogecable that manages and operates the football TV rights. Following its dispute with the production TV company Medioapro over football rights, Sogecable prohibited the access to the TV signal of the match to any other operator and offered it on pay-per-view. TV3, which had announced the FTA transmission of the event is claiming for damages.
To further complicate matters, Sogecable has threatened to take legal action against the Spanish Professional Football League (LFP) over the timetable of the matches. The company has asked LFP to change the time of next match between Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona to be able to offer on pay TV through Canal Plus on Sunday night.
Meanwhile the dispute is costing Sogecable dear, its stock market value has dropped E600m since it began.