The sale of rights to broadcast Premiership football in China, potentially the largest market for the world’s most successful football league, is forcing league bosses to paper over widening splits between its big and small clubs. The divide pits clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea, household names and successful brands in much of Asia, but not yet in China, against the likes of Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.
The sale of rights to broadcast Premiership football in China, potentially the largest market for the world’s most successful football league, is forcing league bosses to paper over widening splits between its big and small clubs. The divide pits clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea, household names and successful brands in much of Asia, but not yet in China, against the likes of Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. The bigger clubs have pushed for a return to a free-to-air model in football-mad China, which potentially gives their games exposure to hundreds of millions of viewers. These clubs believe they can translate the exposure from free-to-air broadcasts into revenues through sponsorship and merchandising and related sales. Smaller clubs, struggling with finances, want to extract every penny from upfront payments, an approach that favours pay TV operators. Last season each Premier club took £9.6m in international rights fees.
In 2006 the winning $60m bid for the China rights from Win-TV, a pay-TV operator backed by the US publishing group IDG, reportedly trebled the next highest offer. But it has been suggested that coverage was frozen out of most regions by TV companies and was hit by piracy problems outside large cities. Second round bids for the rights in China and neighbouring markets are due tomorrow. At least four bidders are expected to take part. The league has put forward a hybrid model combining free and pay-television. Up to 20 per cent of the rights could be available free to air. Whatever happens over the Chinese rights, a major division between the clubs now arises from Champions League revenues rather than from the Premier League competition itself.
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