Bjørn Taalesen, the director of sports at Norwegian commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV2, has apologised for comments he made following the acquisition of rights for the 2015 and 2017 men’s and women’s Handball World Championships.
The deal was agreed with the Pitch International agency, which struck an agreement in May with beIN Media Group to distribute the rights.
Last week, Taalesen expressed “frustration” over the negotiations and said that he had spent more “time and effort” over reaching the deal than on previous occasions. The Kampanje news website quoted him as saying: “The expectations on the prices came from another world – an Arab world without spreadsheets.”
Taalesen has now apologised, saying: “I expressed frustration over the process and negotiations leading up to the agreement. It is no secret that there have been many discussions relating to these rights. I made comments relating to the sellers of these rights in a way that I realise was defamatory and it created an impression that was not intentional. In particular the use of the term ‘Arab’ was both defamatory and stigmatising and not in line with the values TV 2 and I stand for.”