New channel for Dutch live football

Dutch football clubs are planning to launch their own channel following disappointing results in the first two rounds of bidding for top flight football coverage. The clubs will partner production company Endemol. Public broadcaster NOS has managed to regain the rights to highlights for the next five years.

The Dutch Eredivisie CV, the joint company of the premier league clubs, has said it will launch its own channel for live football and make it available cross platforms on cable, IPTV, DTH and DTT. No details were given, but the clubs hope to gain a million subscribers at a monthly price of between €10 -15.

At the moment, the games are available on Tele2 Voetbal, which has distribution contracts with most cable and IPTV providers as well as DTT (Digitenne) and DTH. Although no figures have been published, the total number of homes subscribing to these games is believed to be around 500,000.

Public broadcaster NOS has acquired the rights to the highlights for all games played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The broadcaster can show the Friday and Saturday games after 22.30 and on Sundays after 19.00. Originally, the clubs had hoped to move the Sunday time slot to 20.00. NOS is believed to have paid between €21 -24 million per season. RTL, which now owns these rights, was not willing to match this price.