A Spanish court ruling is being interpreted as requiring the free-to-air channel La Sixta to buy its football coverage direct from Sogecable’s Audiovisual Sports (AVS) unit rather than its own sister company Mediapro.
The court ruled that AVS was the only company licensed to trade in Spanish football rights for the 2007/08 season. La Sixta had asked the court to prevent AVS from trading the rights with any company other than itself.
Under the present arrangement one match of significance must be screened on free-to-air television in Spain, leaving Sogecable to screen the remaining matches over its pay-TV outlets Digital+ and Canal+.
Mediapro has been quoted as saying it does not intend to pay AVS for any football rights.
