Sport TV and Meo close to renewing carriage deal
September 3, 2015
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portugal’s premium sports-orientated pay-TV network Sport TV has renewed carriage agreements with all national pay-TV platforms, except PT Portugal’s Meo.
Sport TV, which broadcasts five sports channels (Sport TV 1-5), has made new agreements with Vodafone Portugal, Nos and Cabovisão, but not with Meo due to disagreements over carriage fees.
Earlier this week, there was a risk that around 180,000 Meo subscribers would end up losing access to the premium sports channels, however the two sides have now reached an agreement in principle to extend negotiations until the end of the month.
The problem emerged after the new owner of PT Portugal, France’s Altice Group, started renegotiating all existing contracts, as part of its cost-cutting strategy.
For its part, Sport TV allegedly proposed a 25 per cent increase in the value of the contract to all operators.
Sport TV is 50/50 controlled by Global Media Group (owned by local businessman Joaquim Oliveira) and by Nos. It broadcasts live matches from several European football leagues (Portuguese, Spanish, German, Russian, Brazilian, Dutch, Belgian and Argentinean), as well as the Champions League, European League, European and World Football Championships.