A consortium of Canal+ and the incumbent Polish telco TPSA has won the right to screen matches from the Polish premier football league Ekstraklasa for the next three seasons. In doing so, it beat off a rival bid from a consortium of ITI, owner of the national commercial station TVN and DTH platform n, and Polsat, whose interests include the DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat.
Although the fee was undisclosed, it was believed to be in the region of PLN125 million (€34.56 million) a season and was acknowledged by Ekstraklasa to be higher than that of ITI/Polsat. According to Canal+, nearly 100 of the 240 matches played each season will be broadcast live and in HD, and a new channel will be launched to show matches on TPSA’s IPTV service videostrada, as well as Cyfra+. It will also be shown on cable networks.
Importantly, it is understood that under the terms of the agreement between Canal+/TPSA and Ekstraklasa, the former will also make matches available to other platforms i.e. Cyfrowy Polsat and n. This is also strongly supported by individual football clubs.
Furthermore, matches are eventually likely to become available to viewers on a PPV basis.
