Spanish commercial broadcaster Mediaset has filed a complaint with the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y La Competencia (CNMC), Spain’s competition regulator, against LaLiga allegedly breaching the terms of an agreement to broadcast match clips, while the organising body of Spanish club football has unveiled a new initiative to enhance coverage of games.
The VozPopuli.com website said Mediaset is protesting a decision by LaLiga preventing the company from having cameras in stadiums during the recently completed game weeks 24 and 25 of the top division of domestic football.
LaLiga claims Mediaset has breached the terms of an agreement that grants it access to game clips. In January 2016, the CNMC ruled that LaLiga must provide a 90-second summary of every game from the top division of domestic football and allow free access to stadiums for broadcasters.
The ruling followed a complaint from Mediaset whose cameras had initially been banned from Spanish top-tier matches by LaLiga after the broadcaster refused to accept conditions imposed on free-to-air broadcasters regarding limits of 90 seconds per weekend on match recaps.
LaLiga imposed the restrictions in an effort to protect the rights of public-service broadcaster TVE, which acquired free-to-air rights for the top tier for the 2015-16 season. Mediaset, which owns the Telecinco and Cuatro channels, had argued there should be coverage of each game and the CNMC ruled in its favour.
Voz Populi said LaLiga is claiming that Mediaset did not follow guidelines of the current agreement including alternating footage taken by its cameras with those of Mediapro and using clips post the initial 24-hour window after a game has ended.
In other news, LaLiga has said it will equip the 42 clubs that compete in the top two divisions with Automatic TV, a new tool developed by Mediapro to aid tactical analysis of games.
Fixed cameras will soon be installed in all 42 stadia that will provide footage for the system. Automatic TV will be provided to all clubs, and will be offered for use by LaLiga’s broadcast partners in their presentation of games.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas said: “LaLiga continues to work to be at the forefront in audiovisual technology, always looking to benefit its clubs. This technology will be very useful for them, and also for their fans.”