Autumn's war in telecom industry: 2011 broadcasting rights for First football League

On a TV services market where growth can only come through acquisitions or by “stealing” rivals’ clients, the most fought-for broadcasting rights in Romania will be for the football matches of the First League.

Romtelecom wants so much to win over RCS&RDS that it is even mulling a tie-up with UPC, say market sources.
The broadcasting rights starting season 2011/2012 will most likely become the subject of a war between RCS&RDS and Romtelecom, with one of the stakes of the battle worth tens of million euros being who will be the leader of the domestic TV services market in several years’ time.
The Romanian Professional Football League is going to organise an auction for these rights, considering this is the last season when the competition is broadcast by the RCS&RDS/Antena 1 consortium.
The tension around the battle for these broadcasting rights, seen as essential in the race for new clients on the domestic TV market, has been building up with Romtelecom’s launch, in mid-2010, of its own sports channel. Since the announcement on the launch of Dolce Sport, Romtelecom has permanently reported the acquisition of broadcasting rights for various internal and international sports competitions.