Who will be allowed to broadcast Belgian football in the coming years? The second bidding round has now been completed. There is one more specific candidate. Although the price offered is a lot lower than the current television contract.
After the first bidding round, DAZN, Telenet and Proximus were the three parties competing for the broadcasting rights. Although that wasn’t correct either. In fact, it was never the intention of Telenet and Proximus to win the tender. Both telecom giants have other plans.
The Newspaper know that the second bidding round is now over. With DAZN there is in fact only one concrete candidate left. In addition, the British media group has increased the original offer of 63 million euros to 79 million euros. Although that is still a lot less than the current contract.
After all, DAZN pays 103 million euros for the current contract. The Pro League hoped to increase that price, but that was never a realistic goal. DAZN did not intend to pay more – the opposite has turned out – while the European trend is also clear. Only the Premier League’s television contract continues to increase in value.
The Pro League is investigating the possibility of starting its own channel and broadcasting the matches itself. But that doesn’t seem to be happening and is mainly a means of pressure in the hope of pushing the price up. Moreover, starting up your own channel is an expensive affair and a long-term job. Too much time and too much money are two things that they do not have in the Pro League.
On which channels will we watch Belgian football in the coming seasons?
It all seems to be turning out positively for football fans. With DAZN as the highest bidder, the television rights do not appear to be changing rights holder. And we can already say (almost certainly) that Telenet and Proximus will continue to broadcast the football matches.
