A Spanish court – Audiencia Provincial de Madrid – has ruled that media group Prisa, former owner of Canal Plus, must pay €51 million to TV group Mediapro for damages in the so-called TV football war.

The conflict, which took place way back in 2007, saw Prisa accuse Mediapro of breaking a contract and it stopped granting it the La Liga TV signal for FTA and international TV. Prisa had argued that Mediapro could not sign separate agreements with football teams undermining its the value of its rights.

The Court has ruled that Mediapro was correct and issued the hefty fine.

In a statement, Mediapro said: “The sentence reconfirms the good name of Mediapro in what became known as ‘the football war’ and the illegality of Prisa’s claims, which, after almost ten years of litigation, have been penalised by the Courts time and time again. The sentence establishes that the interim measures applied by Court 36 allowed Prisa to exploit rights owned by Mediapro, thus depriving Mediapro of exploitation rights and incurring damages amounting to €51 million.”

Prisa could launch an” appeal.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, FTA, Policy, Regulation, Rights