Portugal: Pay-TV operators question Eleven Sports distribution
October 2, 2018
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portuguese operators Altice Portugal, NOS and Vodafone have questioned the lack of progress in negotiations for the distribution of premium sports channel Eleven Sports.
All three claim they have submitted several proposals to rival operator Nowo, which is the representative of Eleven Sports in Portugal, but have received no counter proposals.
According to the CEO of NOS, Miguel Almeida, they have always defended the position of “it must be distributed in a universal way”, adding they will act accordingly.
For Mario Vaz, CEO of Vodafone Portugal, the negotiation process is “strange”, adding that they also submitted proposals “in which the goal was not to lose money”.
His counterpart at Altice Portugal, Alexandre Fonseca, warned that consumers end up losing out, while piracy is growing.
Pay-TV piracy via card sharing or streaming costs Portugal around €400 million, according to the director of regulation of NOS, Filipa Carvalho. In her opinion, the National Communications Authority (Anacom) needs to be more involved in publicising and combating the phenomenon.