The Brazilian Confederation of Water Sports (CBDA) is set to take legal action against Globo after the commercial broadcaster suspended its rights deal with the body.
Globo last week informed the CBDA of its intention to end rights payments to the body amid the suspension of sport due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The CBDA said the suspension of the April payment directly affected its cash flow forecast for the end of the month. The federation said it only received notification of the suspension the day before the payment was due.
Legal action has now been initiated by the CBDA, according to Brazilian news outlet UOL.
The CBDA said in a statement on Sunday: “As we were notified on the eve of the payment date and because the employees’ families depend on this budget…we are sure that, at least this month, it will be honoured by Grupo Globo.
“Since the announcement of Grupo Globo, the CBDA management team has been negotiating for the situation to be reversed and for the parties to continue the partnership of the last decade.”
Globo cited losses caused by Covid-19 and the lack of available events to broadcast as reasons for suspending the payment.
Globo and the CBDA have had a rights agreement in place since 2009 and the deal runs until the end of 2020.
The deal is worth R$260,000 (€42,800/$46,200) per month to the confederation, according to UOL. Globo is said to have continued to pay this amount despite not broadcasting any CBDA events over the past two years.
Marcelo Jucá, the CBDA’s legal director, said that the federation is “working hard” on a judicial measure to ensure that Globo resumes payments.
Meanwhile, Globo has guaranteed pay-per-view payments to Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A football clubs from July 1.
Last week, Globo secured the votes from clubs to reduce its free-to-air fees for April, May and June as Covid-19 delayed the start of the Serie A season. The clubs will suffer a 60-per-cent reduction in their free-to-air rights fees in April and a 70-per-cent reduction for May and June.
The reductions applied for free-to-air and pay-television rights, and not pay-per-view rights, but an agreement has now been reached for the latter.