Premier League clubs left facing £564m black hole after biggest foreign TV deal is CANCELLED following row with Chinese streaming giant PPTV over withheld £160m payment amid coronavirus chaos
* The Premier League has made the huge call to end a lucrative Chinese TV deal
* The £564million agreement has now been chopped after just one season
* The termination was the result of a row over a £160m payment due last season
* Financial impacts are likely to have long-standing permutations as a result The Premier League have taken a major financial hit by terminating their Chinese TV contract in a dramatic move that could cost clubs hundreds of millions of pounds.
As revealed by Sportsmail last month, the Premier League have been in dispute with Suning Holdings over the broadcaster's failure to pay a £160million rights fee that was due in March, which has led to them cancelling the league's most lucrative overseas TV contract worth £564m, which had two years left to run.
The Premier League's immediate loss is £300m as Suning paid £265m to show matches on digital channel PPTV at the start of the three-year deal, but the ultimate impact is likely to be far greater.
The Premier League has pulled its hugely lucrative TV deal with Chinese broadcasters. Premier League clubs are now left facing £564m black hole after the huge deal was scratched
Before the dispute, Suning had offered a significant increase on the existing deal for a three-year contract extension covering the 2022-25 seasons, a proposal that has also been scrapped.
The Premier League plan to return to market in the hope of negotiating another broadcast deal in time for the start of next season, but given the continued tensions between the UK and Chinese governments there is no guarantee of finding a suitable rights partner, or of securing the money offered by Suning.
That deal represented a 12-fold increase on the previous Chinese TV contract with Super Sports Media, and the Premier League were budgeting for another significant rise for the next three years, which it was anticipated would help offset the flattening value of domestic TV rights.
Suning have developed into huge players in the global TV market in recent years having also bought the rights to the Champions League, FA Cup, La Liga and Bundesliga matches in China, as well as a controlling interest in Italian Serie A giants Inter Milan four years ago.
The Premier League had been locked in a £160m stand-off with Chinese broadcast partners. Chinese broadcast of Premier League games has been surging in demand for several years
'The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory,' a statement read.
The Premier League's loss of television income has been compounded for the clubs by the Chinese government's decision to cancel all sports events in the country for the rest of the year - with the exception of Olympic trials.
Along with the coronavirus pandemic this has led to several lucrative overseas summer tours being scrapped.
In addition to the impact of Covid-19 there is also a political element to the dispute, which could have profound implications for top-flight clubs reliant on Chinese investment or sponsorship income.
Southampton owner Gao Jisheng is understood to be trying to sell the club and their Chinese shirt sponsor LD Sports pulled out of their contract last month, and Wolves and West Brom also have Chinese owners.
In an illustration of the escalating tensions, the Chinese ambassador in London last month accused Britain of interfering in the country's internal affairs and warned of the consequences following Boris Johnson's pledge to offer UK residency to up to three million Hong Kong residents.
The Prime Minister's decision to block the involvement of Huawei in the development of the new 5G phone network has also soured relations. On several occasions in the past few months, sports broadcasts appear to have been dragged into such political disputes.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV Sports caused a stir in July by switching coverage of Liverpool's 5-3 win over Chelsea to its digital channel, and last December they opted not to televise Arsenal's Premier League match against Manchester City at short notice after Mesut Ozil criticised the China's treatment of Uighur Muslims.
CCTV have not broadcast the NBA since October in protest at a tweet posted by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morley, who expressed support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
Code:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8693953/Premier-League-CANCELS-biggest-foreign-TV-deal-China.html