The Greek Superleague has said it will hold a meeting on February 20 after telco Forthnet, owner of pay-television broadcast Nova, opted for an early termination of its rights deal for the top division of domestic football.
The Superleague yesterday (Wednesday) said it will hold talks and make decisions over the future direction for the rights after Forthnet’s initial announcement on Monday.
Forthnet said the early termination of the collective agreements with the Superleague concerns the 2018-19 season and 15 of its 16 clubs, excluding PAOK through which it has a separate agreement.
Forthnet said the contractual fee of the collective agreements for the 15 clubs for the 2018-19 season from which the company is released amounts to €37,597,285 ($46m).
It added in a statement: “Taking advantage of the cost reduction arising from the early termination of the collective agreements with Superleague for the above season, the company shall pursue to further enhance the sports TV content offered to its subscribers for the new football season through concluding new commercial agreements.”
The Superleague signed a two-season extension with Nova in early 2015, set to cover 2017-18 and 2018-19, but this was then renegotiated. Nova holds a deal for PAOK home matches from 2018-19 to 2020-21.