Murdoch may have gotten into trouble with his “news” organisations, but the football branch of his empire going strong, as he has just plunked down a billion euros for the Dutch football rights:
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Networks has taken a 51% controlling interest in tv channel Eredivisie Live which broadcasts premier league matches, say press reports on Wednesday.
The deal, worth €1bn over 12 years and due to begin in the 2013-2014 season, was unanimously agreed by the 18 clubs involved and the football association KNVB.
Fox is paying €960m to show the games and taking over the €60m in debt of Eredivisie Live.
Eredivisie Live was set up a few years ago by the Eredivisie clubs as a pay channel for their matches, after earlier attempts to commercialise football broadcasts all failed. It’s been doing soso over the years, not nearly making as much money for the clubs as they expected. There’s also the competition of Sport1, which shows mostly foreign football — Premiership, Bundesliga undsoweiter, which hasn’t helped. With the entry of Murdoch/Sky in the Dutch market, there are likely going to be massive changes to football broadcasting; they’re certainly much more professional in their methods to wring the most money out of it.
Whether that’s good for us football fans is another matter entirely; first reactions are mainly worried about whether the public broadcaster here can keep the traditional highlight programme on Sunday evening. More money for football is a good thing, but Holland is still a small market and not that attractive for foreign rebroadcasting, surely. It may mean, as in England that football will be further priced out of reach of the ordinary fan.
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