The body representing the Swiss cable industry has expressed disappointment at the rejection of its bid for top-flight football after the Swiss Football League awarded the new contract to a joint offer from Swisscom and Cinetrade (Teleclub).
The five-year contract, valued at around SFr 30 million (€26 million) a year, covers the rights to the Axpo Super League and Challenge League for five years from the 2012/13 season.
“The Swiss Football League has departed at the end of the procedure defined by it,” Swiss Cable said.
The Swiss Football League opted for the Swisscom/Cinetrade bid even though the money received will be less than under the Swiss Cable offer. Cinetrade’s pay channel Teleclub will now show 180 games per season, 10 more than at present, though SRG will still be able to screen a weekly match.
Under the Swisscable/SSR proposal 36 top games would have been shown on the public broadcaster with the remaining 144 spread across the SRG, cable and free-to-air television.
Swiss Cable is the trade association of the Swiss cable-TV companies covering around 2.8 million households.