Spanish provincial court the Audiencia Provincial de Guipuzcoa has ordered Spanish top-tier Liga football club Real Sociedad to pay the Mediapro agency €7m ($9.2m) after reversing a verdict by the Court of First Instance.
In September 2012, Mediapro was ordered to pay Sociedad €11.6m by the Court of First Instance after being adjudged to have underpaid on rights fee instalments to the club.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo said in March 2012 that the agency was arguing that the lower rights fee payments were justified by Sociedad's three seasons in the second-tier Segunda División from 2007-08 to 2009-10. The agency had also argued that its contract for the club’s rights had resumed after Sociedad were promoted back to the top division, and should run until 2015. In March 2012 Sociedad agreed a rights deal for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons with Mediapro rival Prisa, a pay-television operator.
In a statement released on Thursday, Mediapro said that the provincial court ruled that there “was no cause” for termination of the contract between Mediapro and Sociedad and reversed the judgment against the agency.
The agency added: “Mediapro is considering what action can be taken against the club for the damage that their attitude may have caused.”
In addition, Mediapro said that it had requested the execution of the judgment of February 2013 which required Atlético Madrid to pay €10m for breaking an existing contract with the agency to agree a rights deal with Prisa in June 2012.
Atlético and Real were the first of several clubs to switch their rights deals from Mediapro to Prisa.