Pay-television operator Digiturk has today (Monday) retained its rights to the Süper Lig and 1. Lig, the top two divisions of Turkish football, after securing a new five-season deal.
The new deal was struck with the Turkish football federation, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu, and will be worth $500m (€453m) plus VAT per season over five seasons, from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
The TFF last week revealed details of a tender process for the rights, which were split into four packages. The federation assigned reserve prices to each of the packages. Package A was valued at $425m, B at $45m, C at $15m and D at $495m. The TFF said five companies expressed initial interest in the rights, with Digiturk and telco Turkcell being the only parties to lodge firm bids.
Digiturk has secured package D, which comprises all rights under the A, B and C packages. Turkish website ntv.com.tr said Turkcell bid for package C, which comprised rights for mobile devices.
TFF president Yildirim Demirören said the new deal represents a 20-per-cent rise in annual revenue for the rights.
Commenting on the new agreement, Digiturk chief executive Yousef Al-Obaidly said in a statement: “This $500m [per-season] deal demonstrates the confidence we have in Turkish football. This is a long-term agreement in which we will focus on promoting the development and production quality. We will develop together.”
Digiturk was formally acquired by beIN Media Group in August. The Süper Lig deal, worth $2.5bn in total, is one of several large contracts signed by beIN in the last 12 months, including the Fifa World Cup in France and domestic rights to Spain’s LaLiga. The company’s total investment in these three properties alone will comfortably exceed $5bn.