Media group AMC Networks International – Central and Northern Europe has agreed a new multi-year distribution agreement with subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Both Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile TV Czech Republic will continue to carry all AMCNI CNE channels, including Sport 1 and Sport 2.
AMC hold rights in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to: third-party European Qualifier and Nations League matches; Formula One; the Champions Hockey League; the Kontinental Hockey League; Portugal’s Primeira Liga; and Italy’s Coppa Italia. It has most recently picked up rights to this seasons semi-final matches and final of Spain’s Copa del Rey.
The media group has ongoing problems in the Czech Republic with renewing its carriage deal with Czech operator Digi TV, owned by the Lama Energy Group. The platform initially dropped AMC channels last September, only for them to return in October after AMC was granted a preliminary injunction against the removal.
AMC carriage negotiations have been affected by the loss of rights to both Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1. Having previously held both in three-season deals, from 2015-16 to 2017-18, it lost out on Serie A to Digi from 2018-19 and has yet to renew Ligue 1, however Ligue 1 rights remain unsold.