Chinese broadcaster told to pay EPL $300m

England’s Premier League has been awarded a minimum PS157m ($A297m) by London’s High Court following the collapse of their broadcast deal with China’s PPLive Sports International.

The Premier League terminated their contract with PPLive in September 2020 after the broadcaster, part of the retail group Suning that also owns Serie A club Inter Milan, defaulted on payments due in March and June that year.

Judge Peter Fraser ruled that PPLive owed the Premier League payments of PS257m ($A486m) and PS160m ($A303m) as part of the deal’s live action and clips package agreements, respectively, as well as interest.

“The Premier League welcomes the judgment handed down by the High Court on Tuesday relating to non-payment of fees by PPLive, its former broadcast partner in China,” the league said.

“The Premier League will robustly enforce its contractual rights when it has no other option available. The League notes the judge’s view that PPLive had ‘no real prospect of success’ defending the claim.”

“The bar is high for a summary judgement application and this decision highlights the strength of the League’s case.”

However, it may not be easy for the Premier League to enforce the judgement. Suning has had financial problem and recently required a bailout.

Until the debt is paid it will accrue significant levels of interest, as decided by the court.

PPLive paid around PS564m ($A1.1 bn) for three years of Premier League streaming rights from the 2019-20 season, reportedly a ten-fold increase on their previous deal with Beijing-based Super Sports Media.

Chinese broadcaster told to pay EPL $300m
Independent Information