Romtelecom breaks off talks over Liga 1 rights

Romanian cable-television operator Romtelecom has broken off talks to acquire rights for domestic football’s Liga 1 tournament, according to the ZF newspaper.

Romtelecom was negotiating with start-up media company Intel Sky Broadcasting to acquire the rights in a sublicensing deal. Intel has the rights for five years, from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

The report said that Romtelecom was unable to agree a fee with Intel.

Last week, the Romanian competition authority launched an investigation into the sale of Liga 1 rights to Intel. There was no tender for the rights.

Romtelecom was a rights-holder for Liga 1 in the previous three-year cycle, from 2011-12 to 2013-14.