A consortium of television providers KPN, VodafoneZiggo, T-Mobile and Delta has outbid ESPN to secure the rights to Dutch Eredivisie football in its domestic market.
The lengthy ten-year contract to broadcast top flight football live will secure the league an annual €200 million and represents €2 billion over the period of the contract.
As previously reported in Broadband TV News, the companies have promised to make their coverage both affordable and widely available.
Dutch media is reporting the amount tendered by the consortium is “considerably higher” than the bid from ESPN. It will now be considered by Eredivisie CV Jan de Jong and the media committee of the Eredivisie clubs.
ESPN is understood to have bid over one and a half billion for the rights, already in excess of the €1 billion offered by its predecessor Fox Sports in 2012.