DAZN reaches agreement with RTBF on Belgian football broadcasting rights
French-language public broadcaster RTBF and streaming platform DAZN have reached an agreement on the rights to broadcast footage of the Jupiler Pro League, the highest level of Belgian football. The deal, announced in a press release on Sunday, will run for five seasons, until 2030.
The agreement covers digital summaries that will appear on RTBF Actus and Auvio, as well as broadcasting images in La Tribune on Monday evenings. Shorter highlights will also be shown in news bulletins and in the sports programme 100% Sport. In addition, RTBF will be allowed to broadcast excerpts from foreign competitions.
However, two months after the start of the new football season, DAZN has still not reached an agreement with Belgium’s telecom operators, which have traditionally been the main distributors of live matches. Telenet, Proximus and Orange argue that DAZN is asking too much for the rights and are unhappy that it is selling them in a package together with Spanish and Italian leagues.
Little progress
DAZN COO Jan Mosselmans said earlier this week that talks with Proximus have recently resumed and are “moving in the right direction". Negotiations with smaller, non-traditional operators are also ongoing. But discussions with the other major telecom providers remain “deadlocked,” Mosselmans said earlier this week.
As a result, Belgian football fans currently have little choice but to use DAZN’s own app or watch French-language highlights via RTBF’s broadcasts.
The Belgian Cup, meanwhile, will not be shown on television at all. While VTM and VRT aired some matches last year, no agreement has been reached for this year's tournament. Just as with the Pro League, that could still change.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO TOM GOYVAERTS
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