The Polish football league, the Ekstraklasa, is investigating the possibility of launching its own television channel, according to Polish media reports.
Under the proposal, the channel would hold the broadcast rights to the top division of Polish football and sublicense them to cable operators and digital platforms
In April, the Ekstraklasa agreed a two-year domestic rights deal with NC Plus, the pay-television platform formed through the merger last year of pay-television operators Cyfra Plus and N. The deal is valid for the current 2013-14 season, along with the 2014-15 campaign.
“Presently, we are receiving about €25m ($34m), and this will increase by €2.5 million next year,” Maciej Wandzel, head of the Ekstraklasa's supervisory board, said of the league’s current broadcast contract. He added to the Sport.pl website: “We want to build our own television channel Ekstraklasa.tv and with its help secure a major investor for the league.”
The league’s clubs staged a meeting earlier this week to discuss the matter. One of the participants at the meeting told the Przeglad Sportowy website: “There's no beating around the bush. The point is that with the sale of television rights, we would like to have more money than we have now.”