Belgian pay-television operator Belgacom will launch a new sports channel, Belgacom 11 Plus, on July 27.
Belgacom will use the channel to exploit its rights for the Uefa Champions League – which run from 2012-13 to 2014-15 – as well as the top football divisions in Spain and Portugal, the Spanish football cup, as well as some matches from Belgian football’s top-tier league, the Pro League. The channel will cost Belgacom IPTV subscribers an extra €9.95 ($12.54) per month.
The existing Belgacom 11 channel, available at no extra cost to Belgacom IPTV subscribers, will continue to broadcast games from the Belgian Pro League and second-tier league. The new pay-television channel will be used to show some clashing matches from the Pro League – Belgacom’s Pro League rights cover five simultaneous weekly Saturday matches, in the 2011-12 to 2013-14 seasons.
It is also planned that the new channel will show the home matches of newly-promoted Pro League clubs Sporting de Charleroi and Waasland-Beveren from next season. Belgacom claimed it had acquired the exclusive rights for the clubs’ matches in deals announced two weeks ago. However, the Pro League has said that the two clubs could be barred from competing in the top division unless they comply with a collective rights deal which would allow Belgacom’s rivals Telenet and Voo to show the games too.
“The Pro League needs a few more days to review the file and details. A decision will be made at another meeting next Monday [July 9],” Pro League president Ronny Verhelst said following a meeting yesterday.
Charleroi and Waasland-Beveren agreed three-year rights deals, from 2012-13 to 2014-15, with Belgacom, covering their home matches. The deals were agreed before the clubs secured promotion to the top division.
The league wants all Pro League matches to be available on Telenet and Voo. Telenet, which operates in the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium, has a deal with the league for non-exclusive rights to Pro League matches in the 2011-12 to 2013-14 cycle. Telenet sublicensed the rights in the French-speaking region of Wallonia to Voo.