The Spanish regulator CNMC has issued a report in which it analyses the conditions proposed by the country’s football federation (RFEF) to market the broadcasting rights for the Copa del Rey in Spain and Andorra.
In it, CNMC makes a series of recommendations including:
To guarantee a competitive tendering procedure, which allows for the greatest possible participation of bidders, within different lots and options.
To preserve the principles of publicity, transparency, competitiveness and non-discrimination in the process of awarding the rights, so that the bids are assessed according to objective criteria and the RFEF’s discretion is reduced.
To not include authority, reservations, or ownership of rights not attributed by Royal Decree-Law 5/2015.
To not impose commercial obligations relating to the advertising decisions of the successful bidders that are unjustified and contrary to the principle of freedom of enterprise.
To establish contract durations appropriate to the principles and rules of competition and, consequently, eliminate the option to bid for four and/or five seasons.
CNMC concludes by saying that it is by law required to produce such reports for distributors “on urgent measures in relation to the commercialisation of the rights to exploit broadcasting content of professional football competitions”.
