TVE is “playing fair” in its bid to acquire the Spanish national team's media rights to European qualifiers for the Uefa Euro 2016 and 2018 Fifa World Cup football tournaments, according to the public-service broadcaster’s president Leopoldo González-Echenique.
Speaking before a hearing of the Joint Committee of Parliamentary Control of the RTVE Corporation and its subsidiaries, González-Echenique denied that the broadcaster is offering €50m ($69m) for the rights, without specifying the exact figure.
“We are in negotiations and would be giving information to our competitors,” González-Echenique said, according to Spanish news agency EFE. “The total expenditure if awarded would be around one per cent of the expenses of the corporation.”
TVE’s annual budget is believed to be around €1bn. Its rights bid is facing opposition from UTECA, the organisation of privately-held channels in Spain. UTECA claims TVE’s bid is unfair as it is using public money to offer a higher price than private networks are able to offer.
The CAA Eleven agency launched an invitation to tender for the rights in January. CAA Eleven is operating on behalf of Uefa, football’s European governing body, with commercial broadcasters Telecinco and Antena 3 also said to be in contention for the contract.