Both sides currently claim ownership of the rights to La Liga as the result of different interpretations of a revised Madrid court ruling last week. The ruling suspended an earlier sentence, requiring Mediapro to pay €105 million in damages to Sogecable and return all football contracts, following Mediapro’s application for voluntary insolvency proceedings. Mediapro said that it had made the application as a defensive move forced solely by Sogecable’s refusal to pay a €90 million upfront payment on the football rights for the 2010-11 season. Sogecable has said that it is willing to pay the fee but only if it can ensure that the money goes to the clubs rather than through Mediapro.
The dispute is being played out against the background of Sogecable parent company Prisa’s talks with US investment group Liberty Acquisition Group, which is revising a $900 million deal to acquire about 50 per cent of Prisa’s capital – a deal that would go a long way towards solving Prisa’s long-term debt problems. Prisa on Monday threatened to take criminal action against Mediapro for issuing “defamatory” statements designed to manipulate Prisa’s share price, which has fallen from €3 per share to €2.04 per share in recent weeks. Prisa’s annual general shareholders meeting takes place today in Madrid.