The Fox International Channels broadcast subsidiary of media conglomerate News Corporation is to launch a free-to-air television channel in the Netherlands that could include highlights of the Eredivisie, Dutch football’s top division, according to the Broadband TV News website.
Negotiations are reportedly being held with the main Dutch television distribution platforms including UPC, Ziggo and KPN. The new Fox channel will launch with television series and movies, with Eredivisie highlights set to be added in the 2014-15 season, the report said.
Dutch public-service broadcaster NOS extended a rights deal for highlights of the Eredivisie in August 2012, for one season, to cover the 2013-14 campaign. NOS’s previous five-year deal for the Eredivisie highlights expired at the end of the 2012-13 season.
In addition to pitching the new free-to-air channel, Fox is also said to be proposing a new “premium sports multiplex” that will replace the Eredivisie Live pay-television channel.
Fox last year acquired a 51-per-cent stake in Eredivisie Media and Marketing, the media company that owns rights for the Eredivisie and controls Eredivisie Live.
Through the 12-year agreement, spanning 2013-14 to 2024-25, Fox controls the live and highlights rights to the Eredivisie. All live matches are currently carried on Eredivisie Live, while NOS hold the highlights rights. Under Dutch media law, Eredivisie highlights must be broadcast on a free-to-air channel.