Digitürk wins giant tender for Turkish football broadcasting rights for five years

ISTANBUL

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Turkey’s pay-TV operator Digitürk, which is now owned by Qatar’s beIN Group, acquired Turkish league football broadcasting rights for a five-year period in a tender on Nov. 21, making the highest bid at $500 million.

The bid of Digitürk, which already held the broadcasting rights, was $5 million higher than the estimated price, for the comprehensive “D package” in the Turkish football broadcasting rights tender, said Turkish Football Federation (TFF) head Yıldırım Demirören. 

Digitürk will pay roughly $600 million for the acquisition of the rights between 2017 and 2022, including 18 percent value added tax (VAT). 

“This contract worth $500 million has shown our confidence in Turkish football. We will focus on developing broadcasting quality and we will grow together,” said the beIN Media Group’s deputy chair and Digitürk CEO Yousef al-Obaidly. 

Clubs’ revenue will increase by around 50 percent with the new contract, according to Turkish football representatives. 

According to TFFG representatives, five companies took the tender specification documents, but only two companies bid for the tender: Digitürk and Turkcell. 

Turkcell made an offer for the “C package,” which included the mobile broadcasting rights and had an estimated price of $15 million, while Digitürk, the winner of the tender, submitted the highest offer for the “D package,” which covered all types of broadcasting rights and had an estimated price tag of $495 million.

The tender lasted only 10 minutes and no auction was undertaken, as the process was completed after the closed offers of the two companies were revealed. 

The broadcasting rights had originally been transferred in four separate packages. The “A package,” of which the estimated price was set $425 million, included the right to live broadcast all Super League matches and market these broadcasts in international markets. The “B package” contained broadcasting and franchising rights of TFF League 1 and was given an estimated value of $45 million.