Fox Networks buys Dutch football tv rights for premier league
Wednesday 08 August 2012
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.
The Dutch matches will be shown on Murdoch's Sky TV which means Dutch football fans may face having to pay to see their clubs play.
Public broadcasting
What effect it will have on public broadcaster Nos, which currently has the right to broadcast highlights of the matches in the weekend, is not yet known.
'This is a media revolution,' Nos director Jan de Jong told Radio 1. He fears Murdoch will insist highlights are shown late in the evening rather than at 7pm as at present, in order to encourage as many viewers as possible to watch the live broadcasts.
Would you pay to watch football? Have your say on the comment form below.
© DutchNews.nl
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Don't we already pay to watch live eredivisie games via Sports1 etc? A 12 year deal...seems like this could be the start of the Sky/Fox/NewsCorp march in to the Netherlands. The other channels will be sure to follow (at a price naturally).
By Dr Ponzi | 8 August 2012 1:10 PMHere comes the real orange revolution!
By joost | 8 August 2012 5:07 PMwatching tv is a waste of time
Read a book, back to basics.
By dork | 8 August 2012 7:01 PMThere is only one way I pay for watching Eredivisie football, and that is for a ticket on a stadium. If it's not free, not bothering. I have a Sport 1 subscription for Champions League, and that's pretty much it.
By CGiboi | 8 August 2012 9:23 PMIf it means I get Sunday evenings free of football, I'm all for it. The NOS Studio Voetbal is the bane of my weekend.
By MissNeriss | 9 August 2012 9:02 AMI hope dutchnews publishes this but who wants to watch sissy european football.
If Murdoch was younger and smarter, he would get NFL here at lower prices.
By dork | 9 August 2012 9:13 AMInteresting. My Dutchie calls American football "rugby for sissies".
Apparently the entire rest of the world wants to watch "European" football, dork...sorry to burst your American-centric bubble...
By CW | 9 August 2012 3:58 PM@dork. I want to watch "sissy" european football!
By Donaugh | 9 August 2012 5:25 PMYou may find this hard to believe but once upon a time it was a contact sport.
Go to youtube & watch "Football Bad Boys".
Why do Americans think sport has to be about kicking ass & macho posing?
@dork, how would you call the football they play in America? And with America I mean South America.
By pepe | 9 August 2012 5:33 PMDork, you seem to be a rather articulate commenter and often have interesting opinions. And yet, once in a while, you manage to spew a highly offensive post upon us.
By Alice | 10 August 2012 9:51 AMFor the amount of time spent on just watching sport alone on TV..would on average be more than enough time to get qualified as a doctor by the time you're 35.
Agree with dork, I stopped in 2004 :D
By The visitor | 11 August 2012 1:15 PM