Spanish Liga top-tier football club Atlético Madrid has been ordered by the country’s Court of First Instance to pay Mediapro €9.88 million ($13.34 million) for breaching a media rights contract with the agency.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, Atlético will appeal against the court decision.
The report added that, if the appeal is unsuccessful, the amount would have to be paid by the club over the next three years.
In June 2012, Atlético signed a three-year rights deal, from 2012-13 to 2014-15, with the Prisa media group, owner of the Canal Plus pay-television channels.
In cancelling its deal with Mediapro, Atlético, like eight other Spanish clubs that switched from the agency to Prisa, cited a resolution of the Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, Spain’s competition regulator, in 2010. According to the resolution, rights-holders cannot acquire a team’s broadcasting rights on an exclusive basis for more than three years.