League considers ITV Digital settlement

LONDON - The Football League could accept a payment of £89m from ITV Digital to put an end to the long-running saga that threatens to put the digital terrestrial broadcaster out of business as early as today.

The league, which has been in negotiations with ITV Digital's parents Granada and Carlton Communications, is understood to be considering accepting a payment of £89m, plus the rights to the matches, as a final settlement to the dispute.

In June, ITV Digital signed a three-year £315m deal with the Football League to televise league division football matches.

It made an initial payment of £48m when the deal was signed plus £89m last summer. It still owes £178m -- half of which is due in August -- which ITV Digital has said it can not afford to honour.

A bitter battle has ensued, with the league threatening to sue ITV Digital's parents Carlton and Granada for £500m to cover the outstanding £178m plus compensation for revenues clubs will lose if their matches are not televised.

Carlton and Granada have so far washed their hands of responsibility for the deal because the part of the contract involving them was never signed.

However, this week, Granada chairman Charles Allen and Carlton chief executive Gerry Murphy entered into talks with the league to try and iron out a deal.

Meanwhile, ITV Digital's administrator Deloitte & Touche is said to be seeking to sell the pay-TV rights to the Uefa Championships in an attempt to free up cash to fund the broadcaster's future.

Such a move would raise doubts over the future of the broadcaster's loss-making sports channel ITV Sport, which co-owns the rights in a deal with ITV1. A sale of the Uefa Cup rights would also raise cash for ITV1, which has been badly hurt by the advertising downturn.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on BrandRepublic, join the debate in the .

Topics

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content