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TURKISH SOCCER RIGHTS NEAR RESOLUTION

Turkish state television has offered to step in to resolve a dispute over soccer broadcast rights that has led to the suspension of all first division matches.

A Football Federation spokeswoman said there was no decision on the offer yet, but that officials would meet on Wednesday to find a way out of the impasse to re-start the second half of the Turkish season that had been due to resume on Friday.
The federation earlier this month cancelled its deal with broadcaster Teleon to show league matches through a coded signal to subscribers, saying the company had failed to meet its agreed commitments.
Teleon is challenging the cancellation through the courts.
The federation postponed a fresh tender for broadcast rights last week, saying no bidder had met conditions that included a $465 million starting price for rights to three-and-a-half years of broadcasts.
With confusion reigning over who owns the rights to broadcast matches, the clubs requested a delay to the second half of the season to ensure they would not play matches without a certain income stream from TV revenues.
The situation has also left Teleon subscribers unsure whether they will have to replace their expensive decoder with one from whichever new private broadcaster eventually wins broadcast rights.
State broadcaster TRT traditionally drops out early in bidding races for league rights but said on Tuesday it was perfectly placed to allow a way out of the wrangle.
"As two institutions serving the public, TRT and the federation could meet and agree to award the second half matches to TRT for a certain sum without a tender," Anatolian news agency quoted TRT General Manager Yucel Yener as saying.
"This would prevent the clubs suffering and more importantly eliminate the possibility that fans will not be able to watch matches. Additionally, the federation would be able to sort out its legal problems and hold a new tender in a healthier position in May or June," he said.
Reuters