Ecuadorian state broadcaster TC Televisión, commercial broadcaster GamaTV and public-service broadcaster Ecuador TV have agreed deals to acquire rights for Serie A and Serie B, the country’s top football divisions.
The deals with the Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol, the Ecuadorian Football Federation, run for five years, from 2013 to 2017.
However, the agreements have been rejected by some clubs opposing the shift towards a centralised rights model from 2013, the El Universo news website reported.
Federation president Luis Chiriboga said that the combined rights fee for 2013 would be $16.6 million (€12.9 million), with the value of the deals to increase annually by five per cent over the rate of inflation for the remainder of the contracts.
“Not even a single penny from the money in this contract will go into the pockets of the federation,” Chiriboga said. “Everything will be divided among the teams.”
The split of the coverage across the free-to-air broadcasters has not been confirmed, but six games from Serie A and two from Serie B will be shown each weekend during the season.
The El Comercio website added that the agreements had been struck despite the federation being embroiled in a legal battle with commercial broadcaster Ecuavisa, which has attempted to halt the centralised sales process.
Football clubs in Ecuador were previously allowed to negotiate their own rights deals.