PP Sports to sue English Premier League over Chinese broadcast rights: report
- ‘The Beijing News’ reports that former Chinese broadcast rights owner will sue the league after deal was cut short on Thursday
- Several companies said to be in the running to show matches this season, which kicks off on September 12
PP Sports will sue the English Premier League over the Chinese broadcast rights deal that was cut short earlier this week, according to The Beijing News.
They reported that they exclusively learned on Friday night that PP Sports decided to sue the league.
The Premier League announced on Thursday that they had terminated the contract with Chinese broadcaster PP Sports, the Suning-owned streaming service that had bought the rights from 2019-2022.
Several of the Premier League’s domestic and international broadcast partners had sought to get rebates on their deals because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain’s Sky Sports had agreed a £170 million refund, according to the Financial Times, while the global total demanded from the league was £330 million.
Sky’s deal, which will see the refund deferred to next season to ensure club’s continue to have cash flow despite the lack of match day income without fans, was struck in June just before the Premier League resumed behind closed doors. Sky was among the UK broadcasters to allow customers to pause subscriptions amid football’s pandemic break.
The Beijing News reported that PP Sports were denied the opportunity to renegotiate their deal with the Premier League, unlike domestic broadcasters.
Several broadcasters have been linked with replacing PP Sports as the Premier League’s Chinese broadcast partner.
Streaming giant Youku, which produces Manchester United’s official Chinese-language video channel, is among those said to be in the running, with reports suggesting that the rights will be split between several companies.
The new season kicks off on September 12.
