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BBC and ITV sign World Cup TV deal

Nick Harris
Friday 19 October 2001 00:00 BST
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British viewers will be able to watch all 64 of next summer's World Cup finals matches live after the BBC and ITV agreed a deal, believed to be worth £160m, with the rights distributors yesterday. Following protracted and often rancorous negotiations with the German company, Kirch, the broadcasters have secured an agreement to screen both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals.

There will be an equal split between BBC and ITV of the rights fee, which is the equivalent of £40m per tournament each. They paid £2.7m each for the rights to France 98, although that deal was negotiated in 1987 before the boom in sports broadcasting. Yesterday's deal, which works out at about £1.25m per match, could be seen as good value. Sky currently pays around £6m for each Premiership match it screens. By the 2006 finals in Germany, the BBC and ITV deal for a tournament staged in Europe could look a snip.

The broadcasters, who have shown the nine previous finals, will share the games both for next year's World Cup in South Korea and Japan and the 2006 event, although both may show all of England's games.

The agreement with Kirch follows months of wrangling, with the German company at one point threatening court action to extract more money for the British rights. There were fears that Kirch might not sell the rights at all rather than accept less than its asking price. It had wanted £171m for the 2002 event alone, but the BBC and ITV, working together, would pay no more than £55m.

"We paid less for both tournaments than Kirch originally wanted," a BBC spokesman confirmed. "We are absolutely delighted. It's a really good deal and excellent value for viewers."

Kirch, which paid Fifa, football's world governing body, £1.5bn for the global rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, had tried to maximise its investment by pitting a number of British television companies against each other in a bidding process. It had hoped to strike a deal whereby the terrestrial broadcasters would screen live any matches involving the home nations, as well as the opening game, the semi-finals and final, and then sell the other rights to pay-TV operators, such as Sky and NTL.

However, the BBC, ITV and the Government were unhappy with that proposal, arguing that the World Cup finals tournament should be considered a "listed" event, such as Wimbledon or the Olympics. Their solidarity and threats of legal action helped clinch the more favourable deal.

Three other factors helped them. The first was last week's declaration by Adam Crozier, the chief executive of the Football Association, that Kirch's original demands were "obscene". The second was the kick-off times for next year's event. Most of the matches will be staged between 7am and 11am, times considered unattractive to advertisers. The third was that Kirch was becoming increasingly concerned that interest in football has reached a peak.

Yesterday's agreement comes after a round of four intensive meetings over the past fortnight. The agreement also includes non-exclusive rights for BBC Radio, which can broadcast all matches live.

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