Brazilian media group Globo has been handed its latest legal defeat after a court ruling was handed down permitting rival pay-television broadcaster Turner to exploit the PM984 media-rights decree to air matches it previously would not have held the rights to.
Turner will broadcast 11 matches between the second and tenth match weeks of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 2020 season on its TNT pay-television channel after the Rio de Janeiro regional court rejected an injunction from Globo on Monday.
Globo had filed the injunction last week after Turner published a list of games to broadcast, including teams to which Globo holds the pay-television rights.
Globo argued that Turner’s use of the PM984 measure impacted on its exclusive rights with those clubs, though the judge ruled that this was permissible as it fell within the regulations of the ruling.
PM984 was introduced by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro earlier this year and places sole control of a club’s media rights in the hands of the home team. Both were previously required to reach an agreement over a broadcast deal prior to the measure’s introduction.
Turner has signalled its intent to continue broadcasting matches using PM984 until mid-October when it expires. There will then be a review of the measure which could see it ratified into Brazilian law.
Globo, for its part, has been battling PM984 ever since its introduction as it has drawn the media group’s ire from an early stage.
Globo is the dominant broadcaster of domestic Brazilian football, holding free-to-air and pay-per-view rights to all 20 Campeonato Série A clubs and pay-television rights of 12 Série A clubs. US broadcaster Turner pay-television rights to the remaining eight clubs.
PM984’s introduction has come at a particularly difficult time for Globo following the global Covid-19 pandemic as it is now attempting to conserve its revenues, illustrated by its request to terminate its Copa Libertadores contract.
Its rights to the property are worth around $65m (€55m) per season after agreeing a four-season rights deal for the 2019-22 cycle in 2018.