South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
English Premier League
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Callum Wilson, of Newcastle United, kisses the television camera after scoring in his side’s 3-1 win over Burnley in the English Premier League in October 2020. Photo: EPA
SportChina

Inter Milan owners Suning sue English Premier League over China TV rights

  • Inter Milan owner Suning’s PPLive has asked for US$116 million from EPL at London’s High Court
  • Covid-19 dispute saw US$700m deal end early and EPL file against Chinese TV partner
English Premier League
Jonathan White
Jonathan White
Why you can trust SCMP
PPLive, the former Chinese broadcaster of the English Premier League, has launched a countersuit against the league over their ripped-up television rights deal that ended abruptly last September.

The Suning-owned sports broadcaster has asked for US$116 million in its counterclaim, which was filed at London’s High Court last Wednesday, legal news service Law360 reported on Monday.

It was reported that the Chinese broadcasters would sue the league as early as last September.

Retail giant Suning also own Italian football giants Inter Milan and the Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning.

A television broadcast camera operator works ahead of the English Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield in June 2020. Photo: AFP
Both clubs have struggled financially in recent months, with reports of players being owed wages, while the Milan side are up for sale.

The Chinese broadcaster and the English Premier League signed a deal for three seasons running until the end of the 2021-22 season for more than US$700 million, one of the largest of their global rights agreements.

That was ripped up in September before the English Premier League had filed their own suit last October at the High Court claiming that they were owed more than US$210 million after an instalment was unpaid, while PPLive were trying to renegotiate their terms.
PPLive has argued that their payments were made in advance and they are owed money for games that were not broadcast during the EPL’s three-month shutdown due to Covid-19 from last March to June.

When games did return the new kick-off times and schedule were unfavourable to Chinese fans and viewing figures dropped, PPLive has complained.

“The Premier League seems to have adopted a double standard and treated a domestic UK broadcaster differently from a Chinese broadcaster,” PPLive Sports said in a statement to the Financial Times.

“We have made our best efforts to reach a compromise, but we have been left with no choice but to take legal action.”

Tencent stepped in to secure rights to broadcast this season’s English Premier League, agreeing a deal after the campaign kicked-off.

It is understood that the Tencent deal for the season was secured for a much lower value than the PPLive agreement.

1