French clubs call for swift TV rights resolution
Negotiations between ERC stakeholders at Tuesday’s meeting in Dublin will be of critical importance after Patrick Wolff, vice-president of the French National Rugby League, revealed the French will demand immediate answers over the TV rights issue.
The divide between warring factions grew on Wednesday when the Aviva Premiership clubs announced they had signed an exclusive live broadcast agreement with BT Vision that effectively spells the end of the Heineken Cup from 2014, with a new tournament to replace it.
ERC, organisers of the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup, responded robustly by declaring only they have the power to negotiate TV rights and subsequently announced a new four-year deal signed with Sky.
Wolff hopes this week’s developments are just posturing before the vital meeting in Dublin and has set a December deadline for a final agreement to be reached.
“For us the most important thing is that we don’t want to waste one or two years on lawyers explaining who has the rights,” Wolff said.
“We want a quick answer. If we waste two years on the TV rights everyone will lose — Celts, English and French.
“Everything must be over by the end of the year, we don’t want any battles in the law courts.
“We hope all these stories that have emerged are just the usual pressure before the start of negotiations. If that is the case then there is a chance to finish before the end of the year.
“It is not our understanding that ERC only have the right to negotiate TV rights. At the meeting we want to know exactly who has this right.
“We think it will be very easy for this to be decided. We want an answer from the English and ERC. Then the French clubs will do their best to reach an understanding.”
The interests of the Premiership and Top 14 clubs are closely aligned as both are seeking a greater share of revenue and a fairer qualification process, which currently favours teams from the RaboDirect Pro14.
Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty last month threatened that an Anglo-French breakaway league would be formed if their demands are not met.
However, the English clubs appear to be operating alone as Wolff insists the details of the new TV deal with BT Vision are unknown to the Top 14.
“We want more information about the deal, mainly what part of the contract is dedicated to the Heineken Cup and what types of TV rights have been sold,” Wolff said.
“Without this information, which we haven’t been given, it is difficult to have an accurate opinion.
“Regardless of any TV contract, what is important to the French clubs is that a European competition is built with the best clubs. That means English clubs and of course the Celtic clubs as well. We want to play against the French and English clubs.
“We are not considering our own TV deal at the moment. We are not following the wind. We won’t follow things blindly, we consider the whole and want the stakeholders to stick together.
“The Heineken Cup is a very good competition and we don’t want to kill it. We love the Heineken Cup in France. Sometimes we complain, because we are French first, then because the Celts don’t play as many games as us.
“But I can’t imagine that the French will allow the big games like Clermont against Leinster not to happen. We will do our best to keep these type of games.”
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