UK football channel for TPS

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French DTH platform TPS has obtained the exclusive rights to UK Premiere League football for the next three years, beginning 1 August 2004, winning them from Canal Plus. The deal includes France, Monaco, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Comoros, and Guadeloupe. Canal Plus will retain the rights to the FA Cup.

The price of the deal was not disclosed, but industry watchers estimate it in the region of E25 million. Canal Plus, which had paid E10 million for the current three year deal, said that it considered the price offered by TPS excessive and unreasonable.

TPS is counting on UK football to attract new subscribers. It is even going to launch a channel specifically for UK football, called Premiere League TV. It will broadcast all the matches, some will be live, some will be recorded. In addition, the TPS premium channel TPS Star will broadcast a leading match each week-end.

Football is a strategic product for TPS. It currently has 1.3 million subscribers and is hoping to recruit 170,000 new subscribers this year. It is hoping to pick up the rights to French football, when they go on auction in the autumn this year. TPS had already picked up the rights for French basketball last year. During a previous auction for French football, which was organised into eight separate lots, Canal Plus had bid E480 million on condition that it had the exclusivity. This was blocked by the competition council, and TPS is certain to gain at least one of the lots in the autumn.