Premier League rights holder seeks to halt payments

LONDON: A streaming service has written to the Premier League to defer payments due to the suspension of competition.DAZN, which holds rights to stream all English top-flight matches in Brazil, Canada, Japan and Spain, is in negotiations to halt payments until clarity is given as to when and how the 2019-20 season can be completed, the PA news agency understands.

The league announced last Friday that there was no prospect of professional football returning by the start of May, and was instead keeping a decision on when the game could safely come back amid the coronavirus pandemic under constant review.

DAZN said in a statement: “We don’t discuss commercial conversations but we’re, of course, in the process of working closely with partners to reach reasonable solutions given the unprecedented circumstances.”

Premier League clubs were reported to have told players in a conference call on Saturday that the cost of being unable to resume the season at all would be more than £1billion.

It is estimated that of that £1billion, £762million of it would be lost TV revenue, as rights holders either claw back money paid or withhold payments not yet made.It is understood talks are continuing between players, their union the Professional Footballers’ Association and the Premier League clubs over a 30 per cent wage reduction by way of cuts and deferrals, dependent on what the eventual outcome is.