Spanish court rules on media war

MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish court has moved to end a cut-throat battle between two media giants over broadcast rights to football matches, court documents revealed Tuesday.

They said the court on Monday ruled that the Mediapro group must respect an agreement reached in July 2006 under which AVS, the subsidiary of the rival Sogecable company, is allowed to broadcast most of the matches on cable and satellite television.

The deal allowed Mediapro to broadcast just one match per day on its free La Sexta channel.

Since their agreement last year, Mediapro has negotiated directly with clubs, signing up almost all of the first division clubs for 2009 and excluding Sogecable from the profitable market.

Since then, each side has accused the other of failing to respect their commitments.

The court's decision is provisional until it can make a definitive ruling on the issue.

But following the announcement, Sogecable stock had risen 7.18 percent to 27.01 euros by 3:30 pm.

In its decision, the court said it "forbids Mediapro, for the 2007/08 season, from any act exploiting the rights ceded to AVS" in their 2006 agreement.

Mediapro said it would "rigorously respect the decision." Spanish business daily La Gaceta de los Negocios said Tuesday that several Spanish clubs have complained over non-payment of fees for television broadcasts of matches, a result of the conflict.

Six clubs in the first division and most of those in the second division have not been paid this month by AVS, it quoted sources close to the Spain's professional football league (LFP) as saying.

AVS said the non-payments were due to financial difficulties, the paper said.

The first division clubs that have complained are Almeria, Osasuna, Recreativo Huelva, Majorca, Espanyol Barcelona and Valladolid.