ITV is believed to be asking Nationwide for £6 million for a two-year deal including five England home World Cup 2010 qualifying matches and some friendlies. The broadcaster is thought to be asking e.on for at least twice that sum for a two-year deal for FA Cup matches.
Nationwide and e.on are part-way through four-year sponsorship deals with the English FA, on which they have first refusal on the rights for the remaining two years.
In the past, broadcast sponsorship rights have either been included in the FA deal, or disallowed when matches were broadcast on the BBC. The two sponsors did not expect to have to pay extra to secure their broadcast sponsorship rights. If they fail to pay the prices now demanded by ITV, another brand could take up the rights.
An ITV insider has defended the broadcaster’s price tags, and told the press that the sponsorship deals offer “value for money”:
“These are premium and prestigious sponsorship properties that attract a valuable ABC1 male audience, which involve a lot of programming and opportunities across platforms.”
Pay-broadcaster Setanta, which bid with ITV to take the broadcast rights from the BBC and BSkyB, is also negotiating with the brands. Setanta and ITV’s four-year contract begins in August.
