Mexican regulator the Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (Profeco) has hit Chivas TV, the in-house streaming platform of Liga MX football club Club Deportivo Guadalajara, with a fine of 5.68 million pesos (€258,000/$273,000) for failures relating to the service.
Chivas TV launched in July, exploiting the rights to all of the club’s home games from the 2016 Apertura campaign. The club, commonly known as Chivas, had partnered with pay-television operator Televisa since 1994 but opted to end the relationship in order to develop an in-house platform.
In a statement, Profeco said it issued the fine following an investigation launched on August 12 due to “repeated failures” of the service during a game against Monterrey on July 23.
Profeco has also taken action due to terms and conditions of contracts signed with consumers that enabled Chivas TV to unilaterally modify the content of the contract, along with withdrawing from its obligations.
Profeco added that it is set to take further action after more complaints were received about Chivas TV in the wake of its coverage of Sunday’s game between Chivas and América.
The formation of Chivas TV has been seen as a test for a new sports rights model in the Mexican market. Chivas chief executive Jose Luis Higuera last month told the Bloomberg news agency that the club intends to end its partnership with US broadcaster Univision when its contract comes up in 2018 in favour of potentially taking the same in-house approach to exploiting its content.