David Darmanin Sky Malta, the newly formed company set to compete with digital TV carriers GO and Melita, has refused to comment on reports that it failed to secure the broadcasting rights to the Barclays Premier League and the Italian Serie A, which eventually went to GO last November.
Sky Malta’s director Paul Hili was defensive in regard to MaltaToday’s question on whether the company, formed in November, had failed to secure the rights.
“No comment to that… you got it wrong the first time,” he said, referring to this newspaper’s report last week that revealed Hili, along with former directors of the Vodafone Group and Michael Bianchi, a director of Vodafone Malta, were planning a Sky offering for the Maltese market.
Hili dismissed claims that Sky Malta would be bringing in football broadcasting rights from the Sky television dynasty, after GO managed to snatch the football rights from Melita last November.
Last Thursday, GO declared it had territorial exclusivity on their rights to broadcast the English premier league and Italian Serie A for the next three years.
Industry sources however confirmed with MaltaToday that in November 2009, a third entity besides GO and Melita had bid for the Premier League and Serie A exclusivity.
Hili refused to confirm that it was his new company that participated and lost in the bid, and rebuffed a question on whether Sky Malta was either a franchise of Sky International, or a direct subsidiary.
When asked to explain the link between Sky Malta and Sky International, Hili again retorted with a “no comment” answer.
MaltaToday understands that if Sky Malta is indeed a franchise that has been accorded the right to use the Sky brand, it might still have to acquire the rights to transmit channels from the Rupert Murdoch empire.
On their part, GO confirmed that until the expiry of their exclusivity contracts with Barclays Premier League and the Italian Serie A, “such content cannot be broadcast by any other provider in the territory as from the next football season, as part of the contractual obligations set by the international content providers of these sports rights”
Rights to the Barclays Premier League are sold internationally on a territory by territory basis, with each territory having the rights for three seasons. The same applies for the Italian Serie A, whose rights were awarded exclusively to GO for the two football seasons starting 2010/11. The rights cover live TV coverage, as well as coverage on the internet and on mobile.
“Sky do not own international exclusivity on Premier League rights,” GO said. “Sky UK have been awarded exclusive rights for UK and Ireland only, and Sky Italia were awarded exclusive rights for Italy only, and Sky Deutschland were awarded rights for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Therefore these providers can only transmit Premier League matches by the respective companies for the territories that each company has been awarded rights for.”
The Malta Communications Authority said its remit by law does not include content adjudication and any other association areas such as sub-licensing rights. “The Authority plays no role in this regard,” an MCA spokesperson said.
GO’s rights will expire in 2013 for the Premier League, and in 2012 for the Serie A, after which GO intends to reapply.
Sky Malta’s shareholders include BH Sky Ltd, owned by Hili International and Michael and Raphael Bianchi; Andre Sokol, formerly the Vodafone Group’s director of mergers and acquisitions; while Sir Julian Horn-Smith – a former deputy chief executive of Vodafone Group plc – is director of the company.
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