PROCOMMENT
Al Jazeera and ADM: Life after the Premier League rights saga
Now that the MENA broadcast rights for the Premier League have been awarded exclusively to Al Jazeera Sport, Karim Sarkis, who was part of the team that negotiated the rights for Abu Dhabi Media for the previous three seasons, sheds light on some of the challenges that lie ahead for the region
14 | www.broadcastprome.com | August 2013
The saga of the renewal of the Premier League television rights recently culminated with their award to Al Jazeera on an exclusive basis. As usual, the price paid has not been announced. Given the nature of the auction process and judging by its extended duration, it would probably be safe to assume the rights cost hundreds of millions of dollars. If there is one thing that everyone agrees on, it is that the process took far too long. The result was announced roughly a month before the scheduled start of the 2013 season, leaving fans and subscribers confused as to how and where they will be able to watch the games. That the PL allowed the process to drag on for so long must imply that they reaped a financial benefit above and beyond what they would have gained by accepting the initial bids. Nevertheless, the proceedings did not help the reputation of the sports rights sales processes in MENA, which are in general quite ambiguous in nature. Unless Al Jazeera has been quietly