The Prisa media group, owner of the Canal Plus pay-television channels in Spain, wants to renegotiate rights deals with 10 clubs from the Spanish Liga, the country’s top division of football, according to El Economista.
The newspaper said that Prisa wants to pay the clubs less than the contractually agreed total of €258 million ($346 million) per year after attracting fewer subscribers than expected.
“We are talking with the teams to find the most sustainable model, both for them and for us,” Prisa told the newspaper.
The report added that three options are currently being discussed with each club, including: a reduction in the rights fee, a smaller package of rights, or deferring rights fee payments.
Prisa bid aggressively against Spanish agency Mediapro to acquire rights on a club-by-club basis.
However, Francisco Checa, general secretary of Real Zaragoza, one of the clubs to have agreed a deal with Prisa, told Spanish newspaper El Periódico that the media group had been on time with its payments so far.
Checa added: “At no time have we discussed the possibility of deferring payments or similar actions… We know the reality of the situation, but we’re not worried.”